It All Started with a Rescue
by Nadira the hedgehog
Summary: Sonic and his friends go to rescue Shadow from Metal Sonic, but that is only the beginning of their adventure.
1. A Day at the Beach

I do not own Sonic or any other characters, except for Obsidian.

**A Day at the Beach**

It was a beautiful day on a tropical island; a warm sea breeze blew softly across the sands. It was the perfect vacation spot for the blue hedgehog laying on the beach, that is, if he was on vacation.

Sonic sat up with a gasp, and looked around. The others were no where to be seen. He placed a hand on his throbbing head, trying to remember what had happened. He remembered sneaking into Metal's base to rescue Shadow… then it hit him like a ton of bricks, the plane had been shot down by one of the guard bots! In a flash he was on his feet racing down the beach.

"Knuckles, Tails, Shadow!" Sonic's voice rang out all over the island. Suddenly his calls were muffled as the speedster landed face first in the sand. He jumped up and scanned the sands for the thing that had tripped him. What he saw sent him into a fit of laughter. Sticking out of the sand was a single shoe, with fire spewing from the soles.

"Shadow turn off your rockets so I can get you out."

A muffled response was followed by the flames shooting out faster.

"You look like you don't need my help. So unless you enjoy playing ostrich you'll turn off your rockets."

An audible growl came from beneath the sand as the flames stopped.

Sonic gripped the foot and pulled, out of the sand came a hedgehog that was almost identical to Sonic except he was black with red stripes and wore a scowl.

"I didn't need your help blue hedgehog!"

"It sure looked like you did faker." Sonic laughed as Shadow brushed the sand from his fur.

"Well I wouldn't have if you hadn't given me a shot to inhibit my chaos powers!" Shadow took a threatening step towards Sonic.

"Listen Shadow I didn't give you that shot, I already told you it was Metal Sonic."

"A likely story..." Shadow mumbled.

"Look, we have to find Knuckles and Tails and then we have to hide." Sonic said as he sped off, throwing sand all over Shadow.

Shadow growled, as he took off after the speeding blue blur.

**Meanwhile in the jungle…**

"Do you think Sonic is ok Knuckles?" Tails asked the muscled red echidna as he crashed through the underbrush.

Knuckles smiled at the young fox, "That hedgehog is just fine. It would take more than a simple plane crash to stop him."

"Where are we going Knuckles?"

"We're heading to the beach; Sonic is most likely to be there."

"Why do you say that?" Tails asked cocking his head.

Knuckles grinned, "It's easier to run on the beach."

After what seemed like hours of playing gardener, Knuckles finally saw the beach.

"We made it Tails."

"Look there's Sonic!"

Knuckles looked where Tails was pointing; standing on the beach was a hedgehog scanning the sands.

"Sonic, we're over …" Tails call was cut short as Knuckles pulled him down.

"Be quiet Tails, that's not Sonic."

"How can you tell?" Tails asked in a quiet voice.

"Look at the sun reflecting off him."

"Then that's Metal Sonic!"

"Shhh… he doesn't seem to know we're here."

On the beach the metallic blue hedgehog was enjoying the fear coming from the jungle line. Of course he knew the two-tailed brat and the red buffoon were there. He was just waiting for Sonic to show up. Then he would force him to tell him where he had hid his prisoner.

Not far from the scene Sonic and Shadow were racing down the beach. Sonic stopped suddenly, with Shadow a few seconds shy of crashing into him.

"Warn me when you decide to stop like that!" Shadow growled.

"Sorry Shadow. Look you have to stay here."

"I don't take orders from you!"

Sonic shrugged, "Listen, I can see Metal Sonic up ahead and since you don't have your chaos abilities…"

Shadow growled, "Fine, I'll humor you and wait here."

Sonic sped off, leaving a grumbling Shadow behind him.

From the behind the trees Knuckles and Tails watched Metal Sonic intently, barely allowing themselves to breath.

"Hey Knuckles!"

Tails and Knuckles jumped ten feet in the air, Knuckles turned with his fists raised, only to lower them when he saw Sonic doubled over with laughter, rolling on the jungle floor.

"Man I got you two good."

"You sure did Sonic." Tails laughed as he hugged his hero.

"Will you two be quiet, Metal might hear you." Knuckles said as he turned to the beach, "Hey, where did he go?"

"I bet he went after Shadow!" Sonic said as raced to where he had left the dark hedgehog.

Back where Sonic had left him, Shadow was pacing angrily.

"Stupid blue hedgehog, when I get my chaos abilities back I'm going to fry him. How dare he take away my power!" Shadow's mind drifted to that rainy night.

"Who are you?" Shadow gasped as he held his bleeding shoulder, as the rain poured down in sheets.

"I'm Sonic you fool and you are now my prisoner." The hedgehog said as he jumped into the air.

The next thing Shadow felt was a ton of bricks hitting his head, and then blackness. Next thing he was waking up in a dark cell, surrounded by chains and shackles.

"I can break these easy." Shadow thought as he reached for the chaos that flowed through his body. To his surprise the normal warm energy was gone and the only sensation that remained was the sharp pain left over from his healed shoulder. "What is going on?" Shadow wondered as he tried over and over to call out his chaos power. Suddenly he heard the familiar sound of the fox boy's plane. Then he heard gun shots and the annoying sarcasm of the blue hedgehog getting closer.

"Hey Shadow we're here to get you out of yet another sticky situation."

Shadow growled, "Considering you put me in here to start with don't expect me to thank you. In fact, when I get out I'm going to kill you."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, "If that's what you want to believe, but I'm telling you it was a robot duplicate called Metal Sonic that captured you."

Shadow rolled his crimson eyes, "You'd say anything to save your pathetic blue hide."

"Look, just follow me to Tails' plane. Knuckles is holding off the bots so I can get you out of here." Sonic said as he opened to cell door and started to unlock the chains and shackles. "I would have thought that you could have at least got a couple of these off yourself."

"Like you don't know." Shadow said sarcastically as he followed Sonic down the corridor.

"Know what?"

"That the reason I haven't killed you already is because you took away my chaos powers."

"For the last time it wasn't me, and Tail's might be able to help figure out how to get them back."

"And then I'll kill you." Shadow thought as he jumped onto the plane with Tails and Knuckles.

"Hang on guys; it's going to be a bumpy ride!" Tails said as dodged the rain of bullets the robots were shooting. "Whoa!" Tails pulled the plane almost vertical as a large robot burst from the tree top. The robot opened its chest and a large missile burst out, its heat seeking program locked on the plane.

Shadow was suddenly brought back to the present by, what felt like, a freight train slamming into his stomach. Twisting in midair he managed to land on his feet.

"Who dares…?" Shadow stopped short, standing in front of him was a metallic version of Sonic.

"Good evening Shadow."

Shadow glared at the smirking robot, "So that blue idiot was telling the truth after all. It was you who captured me that night."

Metal laughed, "Yes, and it was I who developed the inhibitor that is coursing through your veins."

Shadow took a step towards him, "You'd better hope my abilities don't come back soon."

"They won't come back until I want them to. You see, I'm the only one with the antidote."

"Give it to me now!"

Metal sneered, "Sure I'll give it to you." He then reached into his chest compartment and threw a canister at Shadow's feet.

Shadow's eyes went wide as he was engulfed in a cloud of smoke, he started coughing violently, and then he slumped to the sand out cold.

"Ultimate life form, ha." Metal thought as he threw Shadow over his shoulder. He had taken two steps when what felt like a rocket crashed into him, sending him and Shadow flying. Metal twisted and landed on his feet while Shadow landed with a thud in the sand.

"Thought you could capture Shadow again Metal mouth?"

"If you and your band of idiots had not busted him out of my prison in the first place I wouldn't have to have come out here."

"Afraid of getting sunburned?" Sonic laughed.

"I will kill you hedgehog!" Metal shouted as he flew at Sonic. Sonic met him halfway.

The entire beach shook with the force of the combatants. Each matched the other blow for blow. It seemed that they were fated to fight forever, that is until Metal managed to grab Sonic around the throat. Sonic struggled against the cold hand but to avail.

Metal grinned, "I have a deal hedgehog, tell me where Knothole Village is and I will spare your pathetic life."

Sonic forced a grin, "I will never tell you rust bucket."

"Then you leave no choice." Sonics' eyes started to glaze as Metal tightened his grip. Suddenly Metal's body was covered in kunies, his body began to shake and spark. With a yell of pain Metal dropped Sonic to the beach and teleported.

Sonic lay where he had fallen, coughing and trying to catch his breath, "Thanks Espio."

A purple chameleon materialized in front of him, "I never have liked robots." He said as he helped Sonic to his feet.

"Sonic are you ok!?" Tails yelled as he and Knuckles ran up.

Sonic grinned at the young fox, "Yeah I'm fine."

"I leave you alone for two seconds and you go and almost get yourself killed."

"I would have been Knuckles, if Espio hadn't shown up."

"So who is this weird hedgehog?" Espio asked as he pocked Shadow's still body.

"That's Shadow, and right now he's the target of Metal Sonic."

"I don't see why, he looks normal enough to me."

Sonic laughed, "Shadow is anything but ordinary. But enough talk, we'd better get him somewhere safe before Metal head comes back."

"You guys can stay at my place." Espio said as Knuckles picked Shadow up.

On the other side of the island Metal Sonic materialized in front of a large steel building. He took one step towards it, and then crumpled onto the sand.

A large Egg Pawn stepped out, "Repair Master." It droned as it drug Metal inside to a large room. The robot placed him inside a large tube, the machine blinked on, the whole base began to hum as the tube filled with a metallic liquid.

I hope you liked my first chapter, this is my first story. Please excuse any errors. Thank You.


	2. HolyChao?

I do not own Sonic or any other characters, except for Obsidian.

**Holy…Chao?**

The next morning the island was awakened by the eerie sound of a machine as it powered down. The machine beeped in confirmation that its task was finished. The metallic liquid drained from the tube, and a newly revived Metal Sonic stepped out.

The metallic hedgehog clenched his fists, "I will kill you Sonic! If it's the last thing I do!!" The entire base rang with his scream.

**Back at Espio's house**

Everyone had just woke up, all except Shadow, who had not stirred since his encounter with Metal Sonic.

"Here, this should wake him." Espio said as he dunked a bucket of water on Shadow's head.

"I will kill you G.U.N.!" Shadow yelled as he sat up.

"Good morning Faker." Sonic grinned.

Shadow glared at Sonic, and then he noticed Espio. "Identify yourself."

"Name's Espio, master ninja."

Shadow nodded, and then he stood shakily to his feet, "I have to get my chaos powers back."

"Why? Can't you live without them?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact, no. if I do not regain my powers soon I will die."

"Oh, sorry, so how can we get them back?"

Shadow clenched his fist, "That idiot robot has the antidote."

Knuckles scratched his head, "And where do you think he went?"

Espio stood to his feet, "I know the answer to that one, he has a base on the other side of the island."

"How do you know that?" Tails asked with amazement.

Espio grinned as he placed kunies in his wrist pack, "I haven't exactly been the best neighbor."

**Back at Metal Sonic's base**

Metal scowled as he reviewed over the bases surveillance tapes, "It must have been Espio all those times. No wonder my cameras never caught him. Now that Sonic has joined up with him Espio will show him how to get into my base." Metal's eyes turned red, "They must not be allowed to get the antidote! All guards to the front entrance!"

Outside of the base Sonic and the others had already arrived and were watching from the forest as hundreds of Egg Pawns filed out of the base.

"You got a plan Espio?" Knuckles asked as an Egg Pawn with a bazooka came out.

"We have to be stealthy and…"

Espio was interrupted by Shadow's growl, "No, we have to destroy each and every one of them." Shadow started to leave the forest.

"Wait Shadow." Sonic said as he grabbed Shadow's arm, a loud crack resounded through the trees, Shadow winced as pain shot through his body.

"Thanks blue hedgehog, you've broken my arm." Shadow said through clenched teeth.

"All I did was barely grab your arm."

Shadow took a deep breath, using his years of experience with pain to push it out of his mind, he glared at Sonic, "Without my chaos power my body is starting to age, I can't heal myself, and my immortality is gone."

"Then we'd better hurry and get that antidote. You were saying Espio?"

"There is an old air duct around the back of the base. We can follow it straight to the computer room to find out where Metal is keeping the antidote."

Soon all five were making their way through the bases air duct, not one of them said a word as they carefully navigated through the maze of tunnels.

Espio stopped suddenly, "The computer room is right below us." He then began to cut a hole in the duct with a kuni, once the hole was finished Espio dropped quietly to the floor below. After a quick glance around Espio motioned for the others to follow.

When Shadow dropped to the floor a bone crunching sound was heard throughout the base, Shadow's eyes widened as he caught a scream in his throat.

Sonic dropped beside him, "You ok Faker?"

Shadow glared at him, "Oh I'm fine, I really enjoy breaking my ankle."

"Well excuse me for asking!" Sonic said as he helped Shadow to his feet.

"Will you two keep it down, the bases' security is very sensitive." Espio said as he typed on a computer that was in the room.

Shadow scowled at him, "So where's the antidote?"

"One moment… It's located in room B-23"

Shadow took off down the hallway, his face wincing every time he put weight on his hurt ankle. Sonic shrugged his shoulders at Knuckles and raced off after the speeding black hedgehog. Espio sighed at their impatience and continued to type away at the computer.

"Come on Tails we'd better go make sure they don't get into trouble." Knuckles said as they walked out the door.

Down the corridor Shadow and Sonic had found the room and rushed in.

Sonic looked around impatiently, then he spotted a vial that contained a metallic liquid. "Here it is."

"Are you sure?"

Sonic picked it up; suddenly a siren began wailing, within seconds the room was filled with Egg Pawns. Sonic flashed Shadow his trade mark grin, "Yeah I'm sure."

"Well, well I never thought you would get this far brother."

Sonic growled softly as Metal Sonic strolled forward, "You're no brother of mine."

Metal grinned, "Why don't you just hand over the antidote, and I might let you live. You know you can't beat me."

Shadow's eyes widened with disbelief as Sonics' shoulders dropped and he started towards Metal.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Metal laughed as he reached for the vial.

Sonic grinned, "Man you're about as gullible as Knuckles." He laughed as he spun around and tossed the vial to a startled Shadow.

"Thanks Blue Hedgehog."

Metal stepped back as Shadow injected himself with the liquid. "Guards shoot him before he recovers his powers!!"

"Shadow look out!!"

Everything seemed to go in slow motion, Shadow watched as Sonic placed himself in front of the torrent of bullets that were rampaging towards him. His eyes widened as Sonics' body fell to the cold floor, staining the grey metal red. Shadow was snapped back by Metals laughter.

"And here I wanted to be the one who killed him. Pity."

A deep roar shook the base as Shadow's fur turned a blood red, his yellow eyes fixed themselves on Metal.

Metal shook with fear as his sensors registered the power level emanating off Shadow. His mind screamed for him to run as Shadow pointed a finger at him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please enjoy your flight, watch your heads, and as always thank you for flying Shadow Airlines. Next stop… Oblivion!!" a huge red blast of chaos energy engulfed Metal and his guards. When the dust cleared they were gone.

Shadow's fur returned normal as he knelt beside Sonic, he carefully placed his hand to the blue hero's' neck, to his surprise he felt a faint pulse.

"What's wrong with Sonic?"

Shadow looked up; Tails was standing in the doorway with tearing in his eyes.

"Tails, go get Espio, ok." Knuckles said gently as he came up and saw Sonic.

Tails took off down the hall, tears streaming behind him.

Knuckles walked over to Shadow, "Is he…"

Shadow shook his head, "Not yet, he's hanging on by a thread."

"We have to get him back to Knothole. Dr. Quack could…"

Shadow shook his head, "He'd never survive the trip."

"We can't just let him die without trying!"

Shadow clenched his fist, then he saw the empty vial on the ground, "I could possibly… no the risk is to great."

"What, what could you do?" Knuckles asked with hope in his voice.

Shadow looked at Sonic, and then at Knuckles, "I could inject him with my blood."

"How would that help!"

"My blood contains chaos energy so theory it should give him my healing abilities, at least it would last as long as the energy was inside him." Shadow stuck the needle into his arm and filled the vial with his life saving blood.

Before Knuckles could respond Espio and Tails entered the room, Tails looked hopefully at them, "Sonics' going to be ok right?"

Knuckles sighed, "What are the risks Shadow?"

Shadow shrugged, "I don't know, the only other person I tried it with died."

"Who was…"

Knuckles was cut short by Shadow's glare, "Never mind."

Suddenly Sonic gasped and then he was still, Shadow felt his neck, "Knuckles I'm not getting a pulse!"

"Guys do something!!" Tails screamed

"I take full responsibility for what happens!" Shadow said as he injected Sonic with his blood.

Time seemed to have stopped as they waited for something to happen. Shadow stepped back as a blue arua surrounded Sonic.

"What's happening Shadow!"  
"How should I know!"

The room was filled with a bright light, when the light cleared all of them stared with opened mouths. Where the fallen hero had been a bright blue chao egg stood.

"What happened to Sonic!" Tails yelled as tears started to fill his eyes.

Knuckles placed his hand on Tails shoulder, "I don't know Tails. What do you think happened Shadow? Shadow!"

Shadow stopped shaking the egg, "What, I was seeing if it was empty."

Suddenly the egg cracked and Shadow was left holding a bright blue chao, its hair looked just like Sonics' spins.

The chao looked at Shadow, the orb above its head turned into a question mark, "Man, I must be dreaming, you guys look like giants!"

"Please tell me that's not Sonic?" Knuckles said in disbelief.

The chao looked at Knuckles in confusion, "Of course it's me Knux, who else would it be."

Espio handed a kuni to Sonic.

"I don't see what's wrong with…" Sonic screamed when he saw his reflection in the kuni. "I'm a chao!"

"It's not that bad." Tails said trying to help.

"Yes it is Tails! How did this happen?"

Before anyone could reply a dull computer voice filled the room, "Self destruction of base in five minute."

"Let's continue this outside shall we?" Espio said as he made his way to the front door.

The island shook as the base went up in a ball of flames, once they had reached the beach Sonic hopped to the sands, "Ok, now will someone explain to me what happened to make me a chao?!"

"I injected you with a shot of my blood."

Sonic cocked his head, "Why?"

"Because you were dead."

The sound of bullets being fired and an unbearable pain came to Sonics' memory, "I remember now, those guards were shooting at you."

Shadow nodded, "And you blocked those shots saving my life. So when you died I injected you with my blood hoping that it would bring you back to life."

Sonic looked at his chao hands, "So why did I turn into a chao? And how long will I be like this?"

"I think my chaos energy mixed with the left over ring energy that was in your body. Thus, turning you into a chao. As for how long, I don't know if you'll turn back or die when the energy balance is restored."

"Thanks for putting it so bluntly."

Knuckles suddenly interrupted, "We really need to get back to Knothole before Sally and Julie-Su send a search party out looking for us."

An exclamation point appeared over Sonics' head, "Sally can't see me like this! Or anyone else for that matter, I mean, what would Lard Butt do if he found out."

"So what do you suggest then?" Knuckles asked a little impatiently.

"He could pretend to be Shadow's chao." Tails said excitedly.

Knuckled nodded, "That would work Tails, good thinking."

"Wait a minute, who said I wanted a filthy chao in my home." Shadow growled.

"I agree with Faker, I don't want to stay with him."

Knuckles grinned evilly, "It's either Shadow or Amy."

Sonic sweat dropped, then he smiled at Shadow, "I guess you got yourself a chao."

Shadow just rolled his eyes, "Can we just leave, I'm ready to get out of this sun."

"Have your power returned then?" Espio asked curiously.

Shadow could feel the warm flow of chaos energy as it flowed through his veins, "Yeah, its back. Chaos Control!" a bright light enveloped them, and then the beach was vacant.

I hope you enjoyed the second chapter, please review


	3. Memory Lane

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian

**Memory Lane**

**At Knothole Village**

"He is so cute!!!" a pink hedgehog squealed as she cuddled the squirming blue chao.

"This is so wrong!" Sonic thought as he struggled against the girl's death grip.

Shadow grinned, "You know Amy I think he likes you."

"You think so!" Amy squealed as she hugged the poor chao tighter.

Sonic shot Shadow an evil glare, well, as evil as a chao can manage.

Tails came to his rescue, "Hey Amy let's go look for Sonic a gift you can give him when he gets back."

Amy set the relived chao on the ground, "Bye Shadow, take care of the cutie." Amy waved as she and Tails walked off.

"That was worse than getting shot by Eggman's robots." Sonic said as he tried to rub Amy's perfume out of his fur. "So where did you guys tell everyone I am?"

"Knuckles cooked up some story about you taking a vacation on Angel Island."

"That is the lamest…" Sonic stopped as a brown squirrel walked up.

"Hi Shadow, Amy said you had a chao."

Shadow grimaced, "Yeah, you could say that princess."

The squirrel rubbed the chao on the head and to Shadow's surprise the orb above his head turned into a heart.

"You know, this little guy reminds me of Sonic."

"Because Sonic is as childlike princess?"

"No Shadow, it's his coloring. Oh and Shadow, you can just call me Sally."

Shadow watched as she walked away," I can see why you like her."

Sonic sighed, "Yeah, she's got a kiss that would make your spines whirl!"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Come on Casanova, I guess I have to take you home," Shadow placed Sonic on his shoulder.

A question mark formed over the chao's head, "Where do you live exactly?"

"Chaos Control!" in a flash the hedgehog and chao disappeared.

**A few seconds later**

"You can open your eyes now."

"Warn me next time you…" Sonic looked around in confusion at the metallic hallway they were in. "Where are we?"

"The Ark." Shadow said as he set the confused chao on the metallic floor, he then headed down the corridor.

"The Ark!" Sonic scrambled to keep pace with the black hedgehog. "But I thought it was uninhabitable."

"I fixed it, now if you don't mind I would like to be alone."

"Fine, fine I…" Sonic was interrupted as his stomach growled, he grinned "You wouldn't happen to have any food here?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Go down this corridor and it's the second door on your left."

"Thanks Faker." Sonic said as he started towards the kitchen.

"I liked it better when I was alone." Shadow thought as he headed to his room.

**Meanwhile in the kitchen**

Poor Sonic was having a hard time in the kitchen; it seemed that the refrigerator was not created chao friendly.

"Why can't they put a doggy door in these things?" Sonic thought as he pulled on the fridge door. Unfortunately his chao body wasn't strong enough to even budge it. Sonic looked around for something he could use to open the door, he spotted a box on the table. With great effort he managed to climb to the top. His face lit up when he saw the label 'Space Chili Dogs'. With a happy chirp he reached into the box.

"What's the meaning of this!" Sonic thought as he pulled several small bags of mush from the box. With a grimacing face he forced himself to eat one of the bags; he quickly swallowed the mush and put the rest of the packs back into the box. "I can't see how Shadow eats that junk."

Sonic then made his way back to the room that he had seen Shadow go into. He smiled when he saw Shadow curled in a ball asleep on his bed. Then he noticed a box filled with blankets.

"Chao sized, thanks Shadow." Sonic thought as he crawled into the box and fell asleep.

**That night**

Shadow raced through the corridors of the Ark. He could hear the rhythmic shots of guns followed by the screams of the scientists. He had to reach them before it was too late, maybe he could stop the carnage.

"Shadow!"

He turned, standing there was a young girl, her blue eyes filled with fear, her blonde hair flowed as she ran towards him.

"Maria you have to get out of here!"

The girl shook her head, "I'm not leaving without you."

"Fine, stay close." Shadow said as he grabbed her hand and sped off down the corridor.

After what seemed like hours they reached the docking bay.

"I have no idea how to work these stupid things!" Shadow shouted as he stared at the launch pad for the two capsules.

Maria looked at the console, "I think I do." She quickly pressed a few buttons, a green light suddenly blinked on. "Got it!" Maria said in triumph.

"Ok Maria you get in and I'll use the other one."

Maria shook her head, "Shadow there is only one that is operational."

"Then you get inside and I'll hold the soldiers off."

Before Maria could reply the sound of ripping metal filled the room, Maria gasped as pain filled her body.

"Maria!" Shadow screamed as he caught the falling girl, he stared at the bullet hole in the door, then he felt Maria shudder in his arms. "Maria hang on ok, I'll get help." Shadow said frantically.

Maria smiled weakly, "Please don't hate them Shadow, and give them a chance to be happy."

Shadow didn't answer, instead he was looking around the room anxiously, he spotted a metal coolant case on one of the counters. He gently laid Maria down and rushed over to the case. "Please be a medical kit," Shadow thought as he opened it. A blast of cold air hit him in the face; he reached in and pulled a vial of red liquid out. He gasped when he read the label; he quickly raced over to Maria.

"What is that?" Maria asked as he knelt beside her.

"It contains my blood; I'm hoping that it will accelerate your healing." Tears filled his eyes, "I can't lose you."

Maria grimaced as he injected her, "Shadow I don't think it's going to work."

"It has to, you're the only friend I have."

Maria smiled as she placed her hand on Shadow's face, "And you are my best friend, I just wish I could have seen the Earth with you."

Shadow caught her hand as it fell, "Maria?" Shadow threw his head back; the entire Ark was filled with his scream, "Maria!!!"

With a jolt Shadow woke up, he placed his hand to his head, how he hated those memories. He glanced at the clock, 3 am, time to make his rounds. As he rolled out of bed he noticed Sonic asleep in the box. The blue chao was curled in a tight ball and was shivering despite the blanket Shadow had put in the box.

"I've gone soft." Shadow thought as he placed another blanket on the freezing chao. In his sleep Sonic grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself. Shadow just shook his head and began his rounds inspecting the Ark.

**A few hours later**

Sonic awoke with a start, where was he? Then he remembered he was on the Ark with Shadow. He looked at the bed, it was empty. "Now where did Mr. Sunshine go?" Sonic thought as he wandered into the hallway. "I think the kitchen is this way." Sonic thought as he started down the long corridor.

Of course Sonic never had good directional skills as a hedgehog; now that he was a hedgechao it was atrocious.

Sonic wandered aimlessly through the vast corridors of the massive space station until he was hopelessly lost. He stopped when he came to a fork. "Do I go right or left?" Sonic spun around three times; he stopped in front of the left hallway. "Left it is." Sonic said happily. Little did he realize that he was heading straight into the very heart of the Ark.

**Meanwhile**

While Sonic was busy getting lost Shadow had just finished his rounds. Shadow glanced at a clock on the wall, 8 am, "I guess I better go wake Lazy up for breakfast."

"Now where did he go?" Shadow thought when he saw the empty box. He walked over to his computer, "Find chao genetic pattern on the Ark."

The computer blinked on, lights flashed on the screen, "Searching…found…one chao…location." A map appeared on the screen.

Shadow cursed under his breath, "That idiot would be in the one place I never wanted to see again."

While Shadow was getting ready to find the wayward Sonic, he was in awe of the huge room he had stumbled into; well it was huge to a chao anyway.

"Wow Shadow sure lived in a cool place. Wonder what that is?" Sonic walked over to a single space capsule, a red light was over it. "Error system failure." Sonic read, "Guess this one's broken." Sonic then walked out of the room hoping to find his way back to the kitchen.

While Sonic was busy getting himself even more lost, Shadow was trying to find him.

"I haven't been here in almost thirty-two years." Shadow thought as he brushed the dust from his fur. "Ever since that day…" Shadow felt tears well up at the thought of the day that took his friend from him. He quickly drove the tears from his eyes, mentally scolding himself for allowing himself such emotions. "I'm the Ultimate Life form, an immortal; such petty emotions are for the weak." Shadow continued through the dust filled corridors periodically calling Sonic's name.

He stopped in front of the room that had changed his life forever; with trembling hands he pushed the door open. Shadow had steeled himself for what he would see; to his surprise the room was empty, except for the nonfunctional escape pod. "At least they had the decency to bury her." Shadow thought as he looked around, "No sense hanging around here, Sonic could be anywhere."

At that moment Sonic had just wandered into a room filled with capsules and tubes.

"Wow, it looks like Dr. Frankenstein's lab in here." Sonic thought as he went from tube to tube. He stopped in front of a bedlike capsule.

"This looks like the cryo-whatits Shadow said that he was put in by G.U.N." Curiosity getting the better of him Sonic proceeded to climb up to the top of the capsule to see what was inside. What he saw made him jump back in surprise. "There's a hedgehog in there!"

Unfortunately, when he jumped back he landed on the "release" button. Sonic jumped to the ground as the capsule gave a metallic click, and began to open, the hinges screaming and protesting as the lid rose. To Sonic's surprise a blonde hedgehog sat up, her bright blue eyes blinking as she got used to the light. She noticed him crouched on the floor.

The hedgehog smiled sweetly, "Hi there little fellow, how'd you get on the Ark?" She carefully climbed out of the capsule and smoothed her blue dress.

Sonic didn't move as she picked him up gently. "My name is Maria what's yours?"

"Sonic." The little chao had to catch himself as Maria gasped and dropped him.

"Oh, I am so sorry! You startled me, I had no idea you could talk."

Sonic dusted himself off, "Yeah I can talk, but I can't fly."

Maria giggled as she picked him back up, "So what's a little guy like you doing down here all alone?"

"I was trying to find the kitchen, now I'm lost and I haven't eaten all day."

"Don't worry I know this place like the back of my hand."

Meanwhile Shadow was still searching for the wayward chao

"Stupid hedgehog, why'd I agree to watch him?" Shadow thought as he battled the dust bunnies. His body stiffened suddenly, he could hear footsteps. He scowled, no one else should be on the Ark and a chao's soft feet didn't make that much noise. Shadow rushed around the corner to confront the intruder.

When he rounded the corner he came face to face with a beautiful blonde hedgehog. Shadow took an involuntary step back when he saw her hauntingly familiar blue eyes. He became even more confused when the girl threw her arms around his neck.

"Shadow I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Who are you and how do you know me?" Shadow asked in confusion.

"It's me Shadow, Maria."

Shadow felt as if a ton of bricks had just been dropped on him, He shook his head, "You can't be Maria, I held her hand as the life left her body. I saw her die with my own eyes."

Maria smiled, "I did die Shadow, but your blood brought me back. Do you remember injecting me with your blood? It seems that when I lost my grip on life your blood brought me back, but your dna changed me into a hedgehog."

Sonic who had been silent piped up, "So how did you get into that capsule?"

Shadow blinked in surprise at Sonic's voice, he hadn't even noticed the chao on Maria's shoulder.

"Even though I was alive I was still injured from the bullet. I knew that grandfather had some cryostasis capsules so I managed to make it to one. I guess over the years my body healed itself."

"All this time I thought you were dead. And the whole time you were waiting for me." Shadow slammed his fist into the wall. He hung his head, "I don't deserve to be called your friend."

Maria took Shadow's face in her hands, "Shadow, it was for the best. Think about it, if you had found me sooner my body may not have been healed and I might not have survived."

Shadow smiled, "Thanks Maria I needed to hear that. I…" Shadow was interrupted by a growl from Sonic.

Shadow glared at the chao while Maria giggled.

"Sorry Shadow, I'm really hungry!" Sonic said rubbing his still growling stomach.

Maria smiled, "How about I cook us some chili dogs."

"Real chili dogs! Not that mush that Shadow's been eating!" Sonic said excited.

Maria giggled at his enthusiasm, "Yes, Sonic. Real chilidogs."

"I kind of enjoy the mush thank you." Shadow thought as used chaos control to take them to the kitchen.

All right chapter 3!!! Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Enter Obsidian

I don't own any of the characters except for Obsidian.

**Enter Obsidian**

In a metallic city where the air was thick with smog everyone's favorite egg shaped villain was hard at work on his latest project.

Eggman grinned at his finished machine, "I've really out done myself with this one Snively."

A young man that was standing beside him nodded, "It is impressive sir. I just have one question though, what is it?"

"It is the Ultimate Cannon! I will use it to blast the mobians only hope of defeating me into oblivion!"

"Then why is it pointing at the Ark sir? I would have thought you would use it on Sonic."

"Oh I didn't tell you did I"

"Tell me what sir?"

"I ordered Metal Sonic to capture Shadow so that I could obtain a sample of his dna. Now before you ask, I had already thought about Shadow using his pesky chaos powers so I came up with an inhibitor that blocked his powers. My plan was going perfect until Sonic and his band of idiots showed up."

"Let me guess, Sonic rescued Shadow and your plan failed."

Eggman grinned maliciously, "Not exactly." He pressed a button on the computers console, a video popped up, "You see Snively, Metal not only delivered me Shadow's dna but he also did the one thing I have been trying to do since I began my world conquest."

Snively watched as Sonic the hedgehog, the great hero, fell to the ground never to rise again, the camera focused on the hero then suddenly a ball of fire took over the screen and then static. "You must be ecstatic sir!"

Eggman nodded, "The death of that pain in my butt only cost me my base, since someone must have triggered the self destruct program. I am hoping that it was Metal and he killed more of them. Although the only compliant I have is that I wasn't able to see the faces of his friends since the cameras are programmed to focus only on Sonic when he enters my base. Perhaps I should change that."Eggman said thoughtfully.

"But sir, I noticed that Sonic managed to grab the antidote and throw it to someone before he was shot. Do you think that Shadow has gotten his powers back?"

Eggman shook his head, "I am sure that Sonic would not have sacrificed himself for Shadow, so it must have been Tails that was in the room with him. And since the base exploded whoever was in the room was desinigrated taking the antidote with them."

"Are you certain that Shadow is on the Ark now sir?"

"Of course I'm sure. I scanned the Ark a few minutes ago and it stated that there were two life signatures onboard. It did show a tiny life signature but I think it was a computer glitch."

"But sir, how did Shadow get to the Ark without chaos control?"

"He probably got Knuckles to take him there with a warp ring, so now I can take out not only Shadow but Knuckles as well! And you know what the best part Snively is?"

"What is that sir?"

"Shadow will never see this coming!" Eggman gloated as he prepared the cannon.

Back on the Ark Shadow and the others were oblivious of the demented doctor's scheme. Sonic and Shadow were too busy stuffing their faces.

"You two need to slow down, you'll choke!" Maria scolded.

"But they're so good!" Sonic exclaimed as he stuffed three chilidogs into his mouth.

"I have to agree with chao face there, I haven't had food like this in years!" Shadow said as he also stuffed about five in his mouth.

Maria laughed, "You always did like chilidogs Shadow. Grandfather used to hang one at the end of a treadmill to see how fast you could run."

An image of him as a young hedgehog running on a treadmill after a chilidog, surrounded by laughing scientists and a grinning Dr. Gerald flashed through Shadow's mind.

"What's wrong are you ok?" Sonic asked in concern as Shadow's eyes went unfocused.

Shadow snapped back to the present, "I'm fine, I just remembered what Maria said."

Maria smiled as she handed him another chilidog, "Maybe I can help you to regain all of your memories."

"Yeah, and she can make chilidogs for everyone in Knothole!" Sonic exclaimed.

Suddenly the air was full of sirens and red lights; Maria screamed and clung to Shadow's neck.

"Shadow its G.U.N.! They're coming for you just like last time!"

"It's ok Maria I won't let anything happen to you." Shadow said as he placed his arms around her.

"Me neither." Sonic said as he struck a fighting pose, which is very comical coming from a chao.

Despite her terror Maria couldn't help but laugh at Sonic's attempt at bravery. Shadow mouthed "thank you" as he led Maria out of the room. Sonic jumped from the table to follow them.

Shadow led them to a large room filled with computers. He walked over to the largest one and began typing furiously on the keyboard.

"I have good news and bad."

"What's the good news?" Sonic asked as he climbed up onto the computer.

"It's not G.U.N."

"And the bad?" Sonic asked fearing the answer.

"Eggman has just fired a large beam at the Ark and we have five seconds before the whole station is incinerated."

Sonic's eyes widened, he jumped to Shadow's shoulder, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get us out of here!"

Sally jumped as Shadow materialized in front of her with a screaming chao and a crying blonde hedgehog in his arms.

"What happened Shadow?" Sally asked as she grabbed the chao. (Who immediately went silent)

"Eggman just blew up the Ark." Shadow said trying to keep the sorrow out of his voice as he continued to comfort the blonde hedgehog who was still sobbing.

"I am so sorry for your loss Shadow; we can find you a temporary hut."

"I don't want to bother anyone."

Sally smiled, "I know, you can stay in Sonic's hut till he gets back."

Shadow grinned, "Yeah, and I can eat all the chilidogs he has in his fridge."

Sally had never seen a chao glare like that as she handed him to the grinning hedgehog. She turned to the girl who had finally stopped sobbing.

"I haven't seen you before, what's your name?"

The blonde hedgehog took her hand, "I'm Maria."

Sally smiled, "I'm Sally, would you like a separate hut?"

"I don't mind staying with Shadow."

Sally nodded, "Ok, I guess I'll see you guys around." Sally's face suddenly fell, "Shadow I'm really worried about Sonic, he hasn't contacted me in days."

"I'm sure he's just fine. He's probably found a chili shack on Angel Island."

Sally laughed. "You're probably right Shadow, I just worry about him." Sally said as she started towards the castle.

Sonic waited until Sally was out of sight before jumping from Shadow's arms. "All right, I'll let you two stay at my place as long as you promise not to touch anything."

Maria smiled, "We promise, don't we Shadow?"

Shadow rolled his eyes as they followed Sonic to his hut.

**Back at Eggman's base the infamous fat man was celebrating.**

"I've finally done it Snively! Both the hedgehogs have been eliminated, and now I have no other threat to contend with!"

"What about Knuckles sir?"

"I'm sure that he was on the Ark with Shadow when I blasted it out of the sky. So I'm not worried about him. Besides, I need to focus on the thing I have been searching for."

"And what is that sir?"

Eggman grinned, "Knothole, Snively. I'm going to find it and burn it to the ground."

"But sir, how do you plan to do that?"

"Simple Snively, destroy the Great Forrest until I find it."

**Back at Sonics' hut the small blue chao was laying down the law for his two guests.**

"Ok, the kitchen is off limits to you Shadow, but not to Maria. But my power ring is off limits to you both." Sonic said as he stared proudly at the golden ring mounted on his wall.

"What's different about this ring than any of the others you have collected Sonic?" Maria asked in wonder.

"You see Maria, that ring is the billionth ring I've collected. For some reason it bonded with my body, so I decided to keep it."

Shadow stared at the ring, "It looks like a normal ring to me."

"Well it's not!"

Maria interrupted, "So Sonic, where are we going to sleep?"

"Well, I guess you can sleep in my bed and Shadow can sleep on the couch."

"But where will you sleep?" Maria asked concerned.

"Oh, don't worry about me; I'm sure Shadow can find me a nice box."

Shadow grinned, "Then I could ship you to Hawaii."

Maria laughed as an exclamation point appeared over Sonic's head.

"Don't joke like that Shadow! You know Hawaii is surrounded by water!"

"Speaking of water… both of you need baths."

Both Sonic and Shadow gasped and bolted for the door. Unfortunately, when they opened the door they ran straight into Bunnie Rabbot.

"Where are ya'll goin in such a rush?" the half robotic rabbit asked in her Southern accent.

"Grab them!"

Shadow soon found himself in the robotic grip of Bunnie's arm, his only consolation was that Sonic was also caught in the clutch of her none robotic arm.

"And who might you be?" Bunnie asked as she carried the struggling chao and grumbling hedgehog into the hut.

"I'm Shadow's friend Maria."

"I'm Bunnie Rabbot. So why were these two runnin like two chikins with their heads cut off?"

Maria laughed, " Oh, they were just about to take their baths."

Bunnie laughed, "Yeah, hedgehogs do hate the water. Although I thought chao liked it?"

Sonic rolled his eyes.

Maria giggled, "All right Shadow you go take your bath first."

Shadow trudged into the bathroom.

"Don't forget to wash behind your ears!" Maria called after him.

Bunnie laughed as Shadow's grumbling came through the door, "Maria why'd you make Shadow go first I had him."

Maria smiled, " Actually Bunnie, Shadow could have gotten loose at any moment. He just didn't want to hurt you."

"Well, I'll be. Never thought Shadow cared."

"You'd be surprising at how loyal and caring Shadow really is. He's just been through a lot."

"At least he's man enough to face his fears." Bunnie said as she grabbed the blue chao that had crept to the door.

Inside the shower Shadow relaxed as the water rushed over him. He really didn't mind showers or baths, it was just the large bodies of water that gave him the creeps. Shadow inhaled the steam, allowing himself to completely relax. He sighed, now that he had Maria back he couldn't continue on moving from place to place. He would have to settle somewhere, perhaps even in Knothole. Shadow smiled, yes, he would live her in the one place that held people he considered to be his friends.

Once he had finished his showered Shadow dried himself off and walked back into the living room where Maria was holding a squirming chao.

"About time you got out. Bunnie had to leave so you'll have to help me with squirmy."

"No! You'll never bath me alive!" Sonic screamed as he struggled harder to get loose from Maria.

Shadow grinned, "This will be fun."

**Back at Eggman's base the villain was admiring his new robot.**

"It's perfect Snively! This is my ultimate creation! Aside from the party sub I made this morning."

Snively rolled his eyes as he admired the robot, the body looked like that of the late Sonic while the spines curled up like that of Shadow. The body was made of a black metal, and on each spine there was strip of blue glass. Blood red, emotionless eyes stared back at him.

"Ironic isn't Snively? That the very likeness of the Earths fallen heroes will be the one to destroy it."

"I'm not sure I follow sir? I know that it looks like Sonic and Shadow, but how can you possible hope to take over the world with just a robot? I mean the Freedom Fighters could still destroy it."

Eggman grinned, "That would be true Snively, if this were a normal robot. You see, this is the project that I needed Shadow's dna for. I combined Sonic and Shadow's dna and my programming into this robot. And with their combined abilities and power nothing can destroy it!"

Snively grinned, "What do you plan to do with it first sir?"

Eggman turned to the waiting robot, "Go Obsidian, destroy the Great Forrest, find Knothole, and exterminate the Freedom Fighters!"

"Yes Master." Red eyes flashed as Obsidian raced from the building.

Please review and let me know what you think.

(Oh, I may not be able to update for awhile, finals are coming up)


	5. Obsidian Comes at Midnight

I do not own any characters except Obsidian

Obsidian Comes at Midnight

**While Obsidian was getting ready to destroy the forest of Knothole, the unsuspecting citizens were going about their business. It was nice and quiet, except for the screams coming from Sonic's hut.**

"Come on Shadow, don't do this please!" Sonic whined, his eyes widening.

"Sorry Sonic, but Maria is calling the shots this time." Shadow said as he held the squirming chao over a tub of water.

"That's right Sonic." Maria said as she came into the room with a thing of shampoo, "All right Shadow, drop him in."

"No!!!!!" Sonic screamed as he was dropped into the warm water, he desperately tried to climb out.

"Shadow hold him still!" Maria said as she tried to grab hold of the escaping chao.

Sonic soon found himself held down by a grinning Shadow. With a final growl Sonic allowed Maria to scrub him with the shampoo. When Maria turned to fill a cup to rinse him he got an idea. Quick as a flash Sonic kicked his foot at Shadow.

"My eyes!" Shadow yelled as he fell backwards as the soapy water went into his face. Fortunately for Sonic, Shadow lost his grip on him as he fell backwards. Sonic took advantage of this to escape and bolted out the door.

"Sonic get back here!!!" Maria yelled as she chased after him.

It was a scene that the citizens of Knothole had never seen before, a blonde hedgehog chasing after a screaming soap ball. They had never laughed so hard in their lives. After a few minutes Maria managed to tackle the wayward chao and finished with the bath.

"You know I should kill you for that." Shadow growled as they ate supper.

Sonic swallowed his chili dog, "Yeah, but a little soap shouldn't hurt the Ultimate Life Form should it?"

Maria giggled when Shadow didn't respond, "Ok you two. I think it's time for everyone to head to bed."

**That Night…**

Sonic was tossing and turning trying to fall asleep. Something was wrong; he could feel a strange energy in the Great Forest. Quietly he got up and went outside. It was probably nothing so there was no need in waking Shadow up. Silently he made his way through Knothole and into the forest. He was drawn to the energy for some reason, it felt familiar to him. He dove under a bush when he felt the energy close by, curiously he looked out. He gasped in surprise, standing a few feet from him was a black robotic hedgehog. The robot's eyes flashed red as it started to burn the trees and bushes in front of it.

"If it finds Knothole we're toast. I have to warn everybody." Sonic thought as he stepped back. A loud crack reverberated through the trees as his foot snapped a twig.

The robot stopped destroying the forest as it turned towards the sound. Sonic held his breath as it started toward the bush. Just as it stooped to look under the bush its eyes flashed as a click sounded. The robot rose and tilted its head, "Obsidian here."

"Obsidian this is your Master, come back to base. I can't have those Freedom Fighters finding out about you just yet."

"Understood, Obsidian returning to base." The robot said as it raced back towards Robotropilos.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief as he watched the robot leave. He smiled, how ironic that Eggman was the one to save him, even if it was unknowingly.

**Back at Robotropilos…**

Eggman was busy typing on his computer, so focused on his work he never heard Obsidian as he came into the room and stood beside him.

"Who are those two?" Obsidian asked, pointing to a picture of Sonic and Shadow on the computer.

Eggman jumped at the sound of his voice, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I apologize Master, who are they?" the robotic hedgehog asked again pointing at the picture.

"Oh, those two were a great pain in my butt. Their dna is what made you."

Obsidian looked at him in surprise, "I am them?"

"No. You are far stronger than those two were."

"You said were?"

"Yes, I killed them both with my own two hands. Now go monitor the cameras."

"Yes Master." Obsidian said as he left.

**Back at Knothole a breathless chao had just made it back.**

"Shadow wake up!" Sonic said as he started shaking the sleeping black hedgehog.

"I'll never surrender to you G.U.N.!"

Sonic found himself flying through the air as Shadow jumped to his feet.

Shadow looked around in surprise; his eyes fell on the chao who was in heap at the opposite end of the room.

"You almost killed me!" Sonic shouted as he got to his feet.

"You should know better than to wake me up in the middle of the night."

"Well, I wouldn't have if it wasn't important."

"Ok, what's so important? You've got ten seconds." Shadow said as he crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

Sonic took a deep breath, "Thereisabigmetalichedgehogthatlookslikebothofusanditsdestroyingtheforest!"

(Translation: There is a big metallic hedgehog that looks like both of us and its destroying the forest!)

"Whoa, slow down. What's in the forest?"

"Eggman has a robot destroying the forest."

"He must be looking for Knothole."

"And on top of that the robot is a hedgehog that looks like me and you."

"You mean it's a handsome hedgehog with an annoying personality?"

"Hey! This isn't funny Shadow. We have to warn the others."

"Fine I'm going."

**Meanwhile back at Robotropilous, a certain robotic hedgehog was going through a computer's files**

"Here they are." Obsidian thought as he pulled up two files, one marked Sonic and the other marked Shadow. Obsidian inserted a disk into the computer and quickly downloaded the two files. Once the files were finished downloading he quickly shut down the files and switched the computer back to monitor mode. He checked the screen for any kind of disturbance, then he went over to a different computer and inserted the disk into it. He pulled up the file marked Sonic and played it.

He watched as the file played image after image of a blue hedgehog as he defeated his "Master" time after time. He watched in confusion as Sonic sacrificed himself to save a black and red hedgehog. He was shocked when the file ended abruptly.

Obsidian stared at the screen in confusion, why would Sonic die to save another? Obsidian shook the thought from his head and pulled up the file marked Shadow. Like before the file began to play images, but unlike before the images started with a black and red hedgehog fighting a robot known as Metal Sonic. After a few images of the two fighting the image changed to show the hedgehog known as Shadow in chains, Obsidian watched as Metal injected the unconscious hedgehog with a black liquid and leave. He watched as Sonic came and rescued him, he was startled by the file suddenly ending with a note on how the Ark had been destroyed by a cannon.

Obsidian was confused; his "Master" had lied. The hedgehog known as Sonic had not been killed but had died to save his friend. And the hedgehog known as Shadow had been killed in a cowardly way. In fact, everything about his "Master" seemed cowardly.

_And evil._

Obsidian shook his head as the last thought entered his head. Where had the thought of evil come from? Suddenly it hit him, Sonic and Shadow's dna must have overridden his programming. He could choose for himself now. He grinned to himself; Old Eggbelly really shouldn't have used the dna of the two heroes, for now Sonic and Shadow lived on through him.

**Back at Knothole Shadow was trying to get into the castle to see Sally**

"Listen Bozo, this is an emergency!" Shadow growled at the squirrel guard.

"No you listen; it's the middle of the night. Whatever it is can wait till morning. So why don't you just go back home you Sonic reject." The guard sneered.

Shadow saw red; he turned quickly before he incinerated the smirking guard.

"No one talks to my friend like that!" Sonic yelled as he launched himself from Shadow's shoulder and onto the startled guard.

Shadow watched in shock and amusement as the little chao bit and scratched the screaming guard aho was desperately trying to grab him.

"What is going on here?!" a commanding voice sliced through the night.


	6. A New Ally

I do not own any characters except Obsidian

A New Ally

**Everyone froze as Sally walked out of the palace and grabbed the chao.**

"Your Highness I was on duty when this ruffian told his chao to attack me."

Shadow started to speak when Sally stopped him, she glared at the guard, "I really do not like to be lied to Rocco. I know that Shadow would not ask his chao to attack you, he would have attacked you himself." She turned to Shadow, "Shadow come with me."

Shadow followed her into the palace, leaving a confused guard behind. When they came into the throne room Sally handed him a still steaming chao.

"Ok, now tell me what is so important that you had to wake up the entire palace?"

"I was out in the forest last night…" Shadow looked at the chao who nodded, "and I saw a robot destroying it."

Sally gasped, "If the forest gets destroyed then Eggman would be able to find Knothole. We have to destroy this robot at all cost. Shadow would you please gather the other Freedom Fighters; we need to have a meeting."

Shadow nodded and turned to leave, Sally suddenly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Shadow one more thing; what did the guard do that made your chao so angry?"

"It was nothing."

The chao chirped angrily at him.

"It was nothing." Shadow said more to the chao than Sally.

Suddenly the chao bit him on the shoulder. Shadow yelped and glared at the chao, "Fine I'll tell her. The guard called me a Sonic reject."

Sally saw red, "I'll see to it that he will be punished for this Shadow. And thank you for restraining yourself and not killing him. Now please hurry and get the others."

Shadow left the palace grinning at the fact Sally was going to punish Rocco.

"Hey Shadow, can you stop for a second?"

"What is it?" Shadow asked as the chao jumped from his shoulder.

"I'm a little tired, so I think I'm going to go back home ok?"

Shadow eyed the innocent faced chao, "Fine, I'll be back as soon as the meeting is over."

Sonic chirped happily as he watched the black hedgehog disappear into the distance. He grinned, Shadow didn't suspect a thing. Sonic smiled as he headed into the forest, he had never been one to make a plan and now was no different. Perhaps if the robot was out there he could gather info on it without endangering the others.

**As Sonic was going into the forest, Shadow was busy waking the other Freedom Fighters.**

Shadow growled as he pounded on a door for the hundredth time. How was it that Knuckles was a guardian if he slept like a rock? Shadow chaos controlled inside the sleeping echidna's room, a ball of chaos energy formed in his hand. Shadow grinned, "One, two…"

Knuckles yelped as the energy hit him in the butt. The bewildered echidna looked around for his attacker but the room was empty and silent, then he heard knocking on his door. Cautiously he opened the door, "Shadow what are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you that Eggman is destroying the forest and that Sally has ordered a meeting."

"Yeah and during the meeting I can tell Sally that she needs to do something about the mutant mosquitoes, one almost took my butt off just a second ago." Knuckles said as he started toward the meeting house.

Shadow just grinned and continued down the path.

**Back in the forest Sonic was not having as much fun as Shadow; he was busy trying to escape from a hover droid.**

"Man, these guys don't give up." Sonic thought as a round robot hovered by his hiding place. The moons rays glinting off its metal claws.

"What the…?" Sonic yelled as he felt a cold vice-like grip close around his waist. Sonic mentally kicked himself, he had been so occupied with the first robot he had never heard the second one.

"Sonic the Hedgehog captured, reporting back to Master." The robot droned as it flew towards Robotropilous.

"This is bad;" Sonic thought as he struggled to get free, "I guess robots can tell who I am. If Eggman finds out its goodbye Sonic." As Robotropilous came into view Sonic wished he had just went home like he had told Shadow.

Once inside the city the hover droid took Sonic straight to a large building, Sonic gulped as the robot went into a room labeled Torture.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Sonic cringed at the sound of his hated enemy's voice.

"You almost gave me a heart attack when you radioed in and said you had captured Sonic! I almost blew a gasket! Now you hover before me with a chao! Did your circuits get fried or something! Give me that chao!"

The droid didn't respond as the enraged doctor snatched the chao from its grip.

Sonic shivered as Eggman held him, it was taking all his will power to not scratch the man's scowling face.

Eggman turned when the door opened and a robot walked in.

Sonic gasped when he recognized the robot, it was Obsidian.

Obsidian looked at Sonic then at Eggman, "I did not know you liked chao, Master."

Eggman's face turned red, "I don't you bucket of bolts! A hover unit brought it in saying it was Sonic!"

"Perhaps the unit was confused by the chao's color."

"That is a possibility." Eggman tossed the chao to Obsidian, "Now take him and get rid of him." Turning to the hover unit Eggman growled, "As for you…"

Sonic didn't get to see what happened next as Obsidian walked out the door.

"Man he's got a strong grip." Sonic thought as he struggled to get free.

Obsidian walked until they were in an abandoned part of the city. After looking around to make sure he had not been followed he went inside the ruins of an old house. Once inside he placed Sonic on a table and stared at him.

Sonic didn't move, "What's this robot up to?" he wondered.

"You are Sonic the hedgehog aren't you?"

"Umm…no."

Obsidian grinned, "I take it I don't get my gift of deceit from you."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked confused.

"Is Shadow alive as well?"

"Yeah, I mean, no."

"Good, then Fathead did not succeed as he thought."

"I'm really confused, aren't you the robot that was destroying the Great Forest?"

Obsidian hung his head, "Yes that was me, I was simply following my programming." He lifted his head, "But then I learned that I was made from yours and Shadow's dna. And somehow that dna overrode my programming."

"So… you're good now?"

"Yes, I hate Eggman and someone named G.U.N., although I've never met them."

Sonic laughed, "Yep, you defiantly have Shadow in you."

"I wish to meet him, from my data he seems to be cool."

"Oh, and what am I? Chopped liver?"

Obsidian smiled, "I didn't mean it like that, I simply would like to meet the people I was created from. Although I thought you were a hedgehog not a chao."

Sonic grinned, "I'm normally more handsome looking, but it's a long story and Eggman might come looking for you."

"You could tell me on the way to Knothole."

"I can't take you there; we have a very strict rule about that."

"But I already know its location."

An exclamation mark appeared over the startled chao's head, "How'd you find out?"

"When you dna overrode Eggman's programming."

"Ok, let's get to the village. But I warn you the others think you're still working for Eggman."

"I can handle myself." Obsidian replied as he placed Sonic on his shoulder.

"Ok, now I'll tell you how I became a handsome chao. It all started when Shadow was captured…" Sonic's story was lost in the breeze as Obsidian raced towards Knothole.

**Back at Knothole Sally and the other Freedom Fighters were gathered in the meeting house.**

"Ok, I have called you all together to tell you about Eggmans latest threat. He has created a robot that is destroying the forest." Sally said calmly as she addressed the small group in front of her.

"Then we gotta kick som bot butt befor it can find us." Bunnie said as she slammed her normal hand into her robotic one.

"I agree Bunnie, just give me two seconds and I'll demolish that bot before it knows what hit it." Knuckles said as he jabbed the air.

"No Knuckles, we work as a team. I swear you and Sonic are so alike." Sally said in an aggravated tone.

Everyone laughed as Knuckles started grumbling under his breath.

Before Sally could continue the door suddenly swung open. In the doorway stood a black robot hedgehog with blue glass stripes. Shadow braced himself for a fight as the robot started towards him.

"You are Shadow the hedgehog, Ultimate Life form?"

"Yeah, who wants to know?"

"I believe this belongs to you." The robot said as he handed Shadow a blue chao, who grinned at him.

"Um, thanks. Just who are you?"

Before the robot could respond it was hit in the side by a red blur.

"Knuckles save some bot for me!" Bunnie shouted as the two combatants rolled past her.

Before anyone knew what was happening Knuckles found himself in a metal choke hold.

"Now, I'm going to release you if you promise not to attack me."

Knuckles nodded slowly, he gasped as the metal hands let go of his neck.

"Now before I was so rudely greeted I was going to ask if I could join your fight against Eggman." Obsidian said as he looked at Sally.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Knuckles growled as he rubbed his neck.

"I can assure you my hotheaded friend it's not."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh as Knuckles turned even redder.

Sally waved for silence, "Very well, I will allow you to stay with us, now do you have a name?"

"Yes, it's Obsidian."

"Well then Obsidian, you can stay with Knuckles until we know that we can trust you fully."

"Wait a minute! I didn't agree to this!"

"Knuckles you are the only one with an extra couch at the moment so you have no choice. All right now that that's settled, I believe we need to take out a few factories to remind Eggman that we are still fighting for our freedom. We will attack him tomorrow night."

Everyone cheered, Knuckles simply glared at Obsidian, who winked at him.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. The Plan

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian

**The Plan**

**While Obsidian was settling down at Knuckles place, a familiar scientist was fuming.**

"Snively! Have you found out how much damage was done?" Eggman asked as he watched smoke rising from one of his swatbot factories.

"Well sir, it seems that about two thousand bots were destroyed in the explosion not to mention the thousands that were in development." Snively gulped when Eggman glared at him, "But the good news sir is that the backup factory is still up and running…"

Boom! A large explosion rocked the building they were in.

Snively looked out the window, "Scratch that sir, both factories have been destroyed."

Eggman's face turned red with anger, "Who could have been fast enough to…" his eyes widened, "No, it couldn't be he's dead!"

"Sir we have an incoming message."

"Play it."

The image of Obsidian appeared on the monitor, "Hola Bubble butt. If you are watching this then you've received my two weeks' notice. I officially resign from the Tubby Parade and look forward to taking you down. Love always your creation, Obsidian."

When the image faded Eggman just stared at the blank screen, his body shook with anger as he raised his fists to the sky, "I hate that robot!!!"

**Back at Knothole**

Obsidian grinned as the shockwaves from the explosion sent slight tremors throughout the village.

Knuckles stumbled out his room, "What was that?" he looked accusingly at the robot, "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Obsidian nodded, "I simply left Eggman a parting gift."

"What?" Knuckles asked confused.

"Well, it would have been rude to just leave and not leave him something. So I bombed two of his swatbot factories."

Despite himself Knuckles smiled, "You know, you remind me of Sonic."

"I should, I was made from his dna."

Knuckles looked at him in surprise, "How did that happen?"

Obsidian shrugged, "Don't ask me, I'm not the evil genius."

"Maybe Tails can figure it out, any way, using Sonic's dna was a stupid move on Eggman's part."Knuckles said as he went back into his room.

"Not really, if he hadn't I'd still be a killer robot." Obsidian thought as he stared at the ceiling.

**The next morning…**

Knuckles stretched and yawned as he awoke before the sun. He had always found that training in the crisp morning air was the best. As he walked into the living room he was surprised by snoring coming from the couch. He was even more surprised to find that the snoring belonged to Obsidian.

Knuckles watched the sleeping robot with confusion, "I didn't think robots needed sleep." Knuckles just shrugged the thought and headed out the door to train.

**At Eggman's base…**

The whole base rattled as Eggman's own snores shook the walls.

The door to his room slide open as Snively walked in with a folder, "Eggman sir, I have the status sheets you asked for."

The bed screamed as Eggman rolled to face his assistant, "What time is it Snively?"

"It is four am sir. You asked me yesterday to bring this to you as soon as it had been configured."

Eggman sat up and took the folder, "Yes, very good." He mumbled as his eyes ran over the contents of the folder. He handed the folder back to Snively, "Increase swatbot production. We have to be ready for the Freedom Fighters attack."

Snively looked at him in confusion, "But sir, are you sure they will attack now that Sonic and Shadow are dead?"

"Yes I am sure of it, now that Obsidian has joined them."

Snively's eyes widened, he had forgotten about the wayward robot, "Then perhaps we should triple production."

Eggman nodded, "You do that Snively while I finish with my newest creation."

**Back at Knothole…**

Sonic and Shadow were up and at the table stuffing their faces with chili dogs.

Maria laughed as Shadow pushed Sonic off the table and grabbed the chili dog that was on Sonics' plate.

"That's not fair Shadow!" Sonic whined as he picked himself off the floor.

Shadow just grinned.

"Are you hurt Sonic?" Maria asked as she picked the irritated chao up and placed him back on the table.

"I'm fine Maria." He glared at Shadow, "You owe me a chili dog."

Shadow's reply was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Shadow would you get that, my hands are full." Maria said as she placed more hot dogs on the skillet.

When Shadow opened the door he was surprised to see Obsidian.

"Hi Shadow, nice day today. May I come in?"

"Uhh… sure." Shadow said as the robot walked in.

"Hi Obsidian!" Sonic called from the kitchen.

Obsidian at down at the table, "Hi Sonic, I see that you are enjoying your breakfast."

Sonic smiled," Mine and Shadow's."

Obsidian laughed as Shadow shot Sonic a death glare over his empty plate.

"Don't kill him Shadow, I have more." Maria said as she set more chili dogs on the table. "Oh, hi I'm Maria." She said when she noticed Obsidian.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Obsidian."

All heads turned as a knock was heard at the door.

"What is this Central Station?!" Shadow huffed as he went to the door. His anger dissipated when he opened the door to reveal Sally Acorn.

"Princess, come in."

Sally smiled, "Shadow it's just Sally, and I need to talk to you outside if that's ok."

Shadow shut the door behind him as he followed Sally to the porch, "Is something wrong?"

"No nothing is wrong I was just wondering if you were up to going on a mission to Robotropilous."

"What's the mission?"

"Eggman has a new stealth ship factory and we need to destroy it. But don't worry you will be a part of a three man team."

Shadow crossed his arms and pondered what Sally had just said, "I'll go, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I go alone."

"You can't go alone! its way to dangerous!" Sally exclaimed.

Shadow smiled, "I won't technically be alone, I'll take my chao."

"Your serious?"

Shadow nodded, "There is no reason to endanger three lives when one person can get the job done."

Sally sighed in defeat, "All right, come see me this afternoon."

Shadow nodded and headed back into the house, as he came into the kitchen he caught the end of the conversation.

"I'm going to the store today to get more food than just chilidogs." Maria was saying.

"What's wrong with chilidogs?" Sonic asked in a hurt voice.

Shadow jumped in, "Eventually you'll turn into one if you eat to many of them."

Sonic glared at him.

Obsidian looked at the food on the table with curiosity, "Do you mind if I try one?"

Maria smiled, "Sure."

Shadow and Sonic watched in amazement as the robot stuffed the chilidog into his mouth.

Obsidian smiled, "That was delicious!" he then preceded to stuff more into his mouth.

"I didn't know that robots could eat?" Sonic said as Obsidian finished the plate of food.

"Well I guess nobody told me that." Obsidian then looked at Shadow, "You know, if you're going into Robotropilous you need to have a disguise."

"How'd you know?" Shadow asked shocked.

Obsidian laughed, "I overheard you talking to the Princess. Anyway, I think you should make sure that Eggman won't recognize you."

A question mark formed over Sonics' head, "And how to you suggest we do that?"

Obsidian grinned, "We use dye."

"We could dye him pink!" Maria said excitedly.

Shadow's eyes widened as he inched towards the door.

Obsidian laughed, "Don't worry Shadow, I was thinking more along the lines of dyeing your red fur black."

Shadow sighed in relief, "Ok, Sonic do you have any dye?"

Sonic tilted his head, "Let me think… oh yeah! I have some dye in the bathroom cabinet."

"Why?" Shadow asked as he headed towards the bathroom.

"Oh, I dyed my fur for Halloween last year; oh the black dye is in the third bottle from the left."Sonic said as Shadow shut the door.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Oops, Wrong Color

I do not own any characters except Obsidian.

**Oops, Wrong Color**

**While Shadow was busy dyeing his fur Sally was at the palace going over that nights plan.**

"Ok, since Obsidian took out two of his swatbot factories then we need to focus on that new stealth ship factory of his." Sally thought to herself as she stared her computer screen.

"Princess."

Sally nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a guards voice "Yes Flint?"

"A Miss Bunnie Rabbot is here to see you."

Sally smiled at the young squirrel, "Thank You, Flint."

Flint nodded to Bunnie as she walked in; he bowed to Sally and returned to his post.

"Hey Bunnie." Sally greeted her friend warmly.

Bunnie grinned, "So Sally girl, have you decided who ya'll gonna send on the bombing mission?"

Sally nodded, "I am sending Shadow to destroy the stealth ship factory."

Bunnie looked at her in confusion, "Wasn't it you who said that we had to always take a partner into Robotropilous?"

Sally sighed, "I know and I begged him to take someone with him. He flat out refused, said it wasn't necessary to endanger two people when one could handle the mission."

Bunnie laughed, "Ole Shadow sounds a lot like suga hog."

At the mention of Sonic Sally's face fell, "Bunnie do you think that Knuckles is hiding something from me?"

"Whatcha mean?"

"Well, every time I ask about Sonic he mumbles something about Angel Island and changes the subject."

"Have you asked him point blank about it?"

"Not yet, but I plan to."

Bunnie smiled, "Boy do I feel sorry for Knuckles." She thought as she watched a determined Sally leave the room.

**At the weight room…**

Knuckles shivered, "An angry woman is about to confront me."

**Back at Sonic's place Shadow had just finished with dyeing his fur and had walked back into the living room.**

"So what do you think?" Shadow asked the three grinning people on the couch.

"Turn around Shadow." Shadow did as Maria asked, she smiled, "I don't think that he will recognize you."

Sonic laughed, "We could send you to him for Christmas disguised as a lump of coal."

"Very funny chao face."

"Hey! That was a low blow."

"There's just one problem."

All three looked at Obsidian.

"What's that?" Maria asked.

"Eggman could possible get suspicious if he sees that patch of fur."

Shadow looked down at the white fur on his chest, "Well what do you suggest we do about it?"

"We shave it!" Sonic said excitably as he whipped out an electric shaver.

"No! Absolutely not! And where did you get a shaver?"

"I'm not sure?" Sonic said looking in confusion at the shaver, he tossed it behind him, "So if you don't shave it then what are you going to do?"

"You could dye it black as well." Maria suggested.

Shadow nodded as he headed back to the bathroom, "That will work."

"I hope he remembers which bottle is black." Sonic thought as he watched Shadow close the door.

**In the bathroom…**

Shadow stared intently at the bottles of dye, "Why didn't he label these things?" of course Shadow was to proud to admit he needed help so he simply grabbed a random bottle, "Here's hoping this is black."

A few seconds later Shadow was staring at a blood red spot on his chest, "That's just great! It looks like I've been shot!"

Shadow picked up another bottle, "Maybe if I mix another color with it."

The others in the living room were startled by a loud scream that erupted from the bathroom.

"What's wrong Shadow? Are you hurt?!" Maria called.

Shadow stuck his head out, "I'm fine Maria, hey Sonic do you have any dye removal?"

"No, why?" Sonic asked curiously.

"No reason, how long does this last?"

"About twenty-four hours." Sonic said as he went to the door and pressed his ear to the door. Shadow's grumbling and the sound of water reached his ear. "It doesn't wash out; come on it can't be that bad."

Sonic was startled by the door opening; Sonic took one look at Shadow and busted out laughing.

Shadow growled and threw him into the living room where he was caught by a startled Obsidian as he flew by the robots head.

"Shadow why did you… Oh my Shadow! What happened?" Maria exclaimed as Shadow shuffled into the room.

"I mixed white and red by mistake."

Obsidian stared at the bright pink fur, "Well at least Eggman won't recognize you."

Sonic wiped tears from his eyes, "Yeah Shadow now it looks like you have a flower growing out of a tux."

"I think it's cute." Maria said as she hugged him.

Shadow blushed, "Thanks Maria."

"We should get going Shadow it's almost time to start the mission." Sonic said as he started for the door.

Shadow started to follow but was stopped by Maria as she grabbed his arm. He turned and his heart almost melted from the pain he saw in her eyes.

"Don't leave me again Shadow! I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you."Maria cried her eyes filling with tears.

"I will never leave you Maria," Shadow said as he wiped the tears from her eyes, "I promise."

Maria smiled, and embraced him, "Just stay safe ok."

Shadow nodded and followed Sonic out the door.

**At the gym Knuckles was in quite a jam**

"Nothing is wrong Sally honest."

"I know you're lying Knuckles. Sonic would never stay gone this long. The longest I have gotten him to stop fighting Eggman was about an hour and that only worked because I stuffed him full of chili dogs."

Knuckles swallowed hard, knowing he was trapped, "I…um…you see…"

"You know asking him questions hurts his brain."

Both Sally and Knuckles turned and stared at the smirking black hedgehog standing in the doorway.

"And you are?" Knuckles asked going into defense mode as he stepped in front of Sally.

Sally giggled, "Nice pink fur Shadow, Maria do it?"

Shadow's face reddened as he glanced down at the bright pink fur on his chest, "No, I accidently mixed the wrong colors."

"Knuckles blinked in confusion, "Is that really you Shadow?"

Shadow nodded, "Unfortunately."

"Are you still sure you don't want any help?"

"Yes Sally." A chirp sounded from his shoulder, Shadow grinned, "Plus, I'll have my chao with me."

Knuckles grinned, "A lot of help he'll be."

Sally laughed when the chao glared at Knuckles and stuck out his tongue. "Ok you two, be careful Shadow. Remember if something goes wrong contact me." She then handed Shadow a radio.

"It will be a piece of cake." Shadow said as he took the radio, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck Shadow… Now back to you."

Shadow laughed as Knuckles began stammering.

**Meanwhile in Robotropilous Eggman was working diligently on his newest project**

The sparks flew as Eggman was putting the finishing touches on the object in front of him.

"Sir, there is someone here to see you."

"Who is it Snively, I'm busy." Eggman shouted never looking up from his work.

"He's a Mobian sir and he claims he has information."

Eggman turned and smiled, "Send him in."

Snively nodded and went out, a few seconds later a nervous squirrel walked in.

"And you are?"

"Rocco, sir." The squirrel replied shaking a little

"Tell me Rocco, why did you come here?"

"I came to give you information."

"And why would you do that?"

Rocco smirked, "To get back at our dear Princess. You see she humiliated me and stripped me of my rank and job all because of Sh…"

"I get it you want revenge." Eggman interrupted him, "Now, what kind of information do you have?"

"I overheard her talking at a meeting; it seems that she is sending a team into your stealth ship factory to bomb it."

"I see thanks for your help." Eggman pressed a button under his work bench, Rocco's widened as two swatbots came into the room and grabbed him. Eggman grinned at the struggling squirrel, "You will make a fine worker bot."

Snively walked in as the bots dragged Rocco out the door, "What are you orders sir?"

"Monitor the city and inform me the moment you see someone."

"Yes sir."

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Code Names and Air Vents

Sorry for the very late update. My life has been one big roller coaster and I have been trying to get off. I will try to update faster next time.

I do not own any characters except Obsidian

**Code Names and Air Vents**

**We join Sonic and Shadow as they reach the forest's edge.**

"Ok Shadow before we go on we have to address a very serious issue."

Shadow glanced sideways at the chao on his shoulder, "Oh and what serious matter would that be?"

"Your code name."

"What did you have in mind?" Shadow asked cringing inwardly at the possibilities.

"Well I was thinking about Wodahs."

"Surprisingly I like it."

Sonic grinned, "Now that is solved lets go kick some Eggbutt."

"Just make sure that he doesn't sit on you. I'd never be able to find you."

"I'm too fast for him to even see me."

"Even with those stumpy legs?" Shadow asked grinning.

"That was a low blow Shadow." Sonic pouted.

Shadow laughed, "What are you not "chao" enough to take it?"

Sonic crossed his arms, "How much longer?"

"A few seconds." Shadow said as he activated his rocket shoes.

"Wha…" was all Sonic had time to say before his surroundings became a blur.

Two seconds later Sonic almost flew off Shadow's shoulder as the black hedgehog came to a sudden stop.

"Warn me the next time you decide to do that!"

"Keep your voice down, we are just outside our target building."

"Sorry." Sonic whispered.

Shadow crept silently toward the large building that was pouring black smog into the air. Neither Sonic nor Shadow noticed the small orb following them.

**Inside Eggman's main building**

Snively watched the monitor as a black hedgehog crept to the stealth ship factory. He turned to his uncle, "Sir I do not have any data on him."

Eggman glanced at the monitor and rubbed his chin, "He looks familiar… take this." He handed Snively a metal collar.

Snively looked at the collar in confusion, "What is it for sir?"

Eggman smiled, "It neutralizes any abilities a person may have." He pointed at the screen, "and I'd wager that our friend here has some type of ability or else the Princess would never have sent him."

Snively grinned, "You think of everything sir."

"Not really, I should have put the kitchen in my bedroom instead of down the hall."

Snively rolled his eyes as he left the hungry doctor rambling on about midnight snacks.

Unaware that Eggman had seen them Sonic and Shadow were surveying the building they were about to bomb.

"Are there always this many guards?" Shadow asked as he stared at the fifty guards posted outside the building.

Sonic nodded, "Yep, but we never go through the front."

"I'm not going through he sewers! I still have a shred of dignity left."

Sonic laughed, "Not the sewers, the air vents."

"I'm the Ultimate Life form, why would I lower myself to crawling through dusty vents when I could simply destroy the guards?"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, if you're scared to go into the vents…"

"I'm not scared!" Shadow growled as he made his way to the vents opening.

"I never doubted you." Sonic laughed as Shadow crawled inside the vent.

Once inside Shadow placed Sonic on the floor in front of him, "Allright chao butt lead the way."

"This way pinky." Sonic smiled as he led a grumbling Shadow through the maze a winding vents.

"You act as if you act as if you've done this hundreds of times." Shadow said as he followed the small chao.

"Sonic nodded, "Yeah, this how I gain access to a lot of Eggman's factories." Sonic stopped in front of a metal grate, "Well, here we are."

"Stand back." Shadow said as he grabbed the grate. The muscles in his arms bulged as he pulled the grate from the side of the vent.

Sonics' eyes widened in disbelief as Shadow set the grate down, "You do know that was wielded to the vent."

"So?" Shadow said as he jumped to the ground below.

"So you shouldn't have been able to do that." Sonic said as he jumped down to Shadow's shoulder.

Shadow smirked, "Don't let this pink fur deceive you, I'm still the Ultimate Life Form. Now let's get started, we have a factory to bomb."

"Hey, what's that?" Sonic asked pointing at a large console in the middle of the factory.

Shadow quietly made his way over to the console, he grinned, "This is the spot we plant our bombs."

Sonic watched as the console digitally ran the entire factory, he grinned, "I agree, Wodahs."

Shadow rolled his eyes as he started to pull a bomb from his pack; he stopped suddenly as a robot caught his eye. Quickly he ducked behind the console.

"What is it?" Sonic asked as he peeked around to see what they were hiding from. When he saw the robot he gave an involuntary chirp and an exclamation point shot above his head. "We have to get out of here now!"

"Why Sonic, the robot hasn't spotted us and we're just about finished with the mission."

"That's not just any robot, that's Roscoe! Do you know what that means?!"

"Sally doesn't have to fill out his discharge papers?"

"No! It means we've been betrayed! For all we know Buttnick already knows we're here!"

"Calm down before you blow up. It's no big deal; we'll simply leave and plan another day to come." Shadow said as he stepped out to make a dash to the vent.

A loud shot reverberated through the base. Shadow's eyes widened as his mind registered the burning pain that ripped through his body, and then he blacked out.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Shadow's Bluff

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian

**Shadow's Bluff**

**Unaware of the disaster that had befallen Shadow we find Sally still pressing Knuckles for answers.**

"Knuckles, please tell me what is going on. If something has happened to Sonic then I need to know."

"I can't tell you Sally. You wouldn't believe me even if I did."

"Try me."

Before Knuckles could reply Sally's radio clicked on, and to Sally's astonishment the voice on the other end was Sonics'.

"Sal are you there?"

"Sonic! When did you go to Robotropilous and why are on Shadow's radio?"

Sonic interrupted her, "I don't have time to explain. We've been captured by Buttnick and Shadow is hurt bad! He's been shot but he's not healing. You have to hurry; I don't know how long he'll last!"

"What sector are you in?"

"Sector five, Eggman has no idea who Shadow is and he doesn't even know I'm here. Look I have to go Shadow's coming around."

"Sonic wait!" Sally shouted but only static replied. She turned to Knuckles her eyes flashing, "Ok what is going on!?"

"You know that chao that went with Shadow?"

Sally nodded, "Yeah, so what does that have to do with Sonic?"

"That chao was Sonic."

Sally stared at him, "Don't joke at a time like this."

Knuckles sighed, "It's not a joke, long story short Sonic died saving Shadow so he injected Sonic with his blood to bring him back. It worked but an unknown side effect turned Sonic into a chao."

Sally's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"When you pick your jaw off the ground we should organize a rescue."

Sally quickly regained her composer, "Of course, I want you and Obsidian to go."

Knuckles shook his head fiercely, "No way!"

"Yes way, he knows Robotropilous better than anyone. Plus you don't have a choice, think of it as payment for lying to me."

"If it tries anything…" Knuckles left the threat hanging as he begrudgingly made his way to Sonics' hut.

Sally shook her head, "I hope those two can work together for Shadow and Sonics' sake."

**Back at Robotropilous**

"What hit me?" Shadow thought as he tried to sit up, only to fall back as a sharp pain shot through his body.

"Don't move, you'll just make it worse."

Shadow turned his head towards the voice; a blue chao was sitting beside him. Shadow's eyes widened as it dawned on him where he was, "We've been captured haven't we?"

"Yeah, Snively got you good." His voice trembled slightly, "It's not healing."

A puzzled look came over Shadow's face, "I don't understand, my body should have healed itself. Perhaps the shock of being shot knotted the chaos energy. Maybe if I…" Shadow started to gather the chaos in his body. Suddenly he let out a scream as waves of electricity shot through his body, he stopped gathering the energy, his breath coming out in gasps.

"Shadow are you ok!" Sonic asked as Shadows eyes closed.

"Somehow Eggman has blocked my chaos abilities."

"It may have something to do with that stupid collar Snively put on you."

Shadow placed his hand to his neck; he felt the cold metal under his fingers. A slight shock went through his hand, "Yeah, this is defiantly what's blocking my power." He glanced over at Sonic, "Why didn't he put one on you?"

Sonic puffed out his chest, "He doesn't even know I'm here. When you got hit I hid behind the computer. I then followed him to your cell and hid under the bench till you came to." Sonic suddenly chirped angrily and darted away.

"What..." then Shadow heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall, his spins stood on end as they stopped and he heard who it was.

"Hello my prisoner." Eggman said as he opened the cell. "Pick him up."

Shadow growled in his throat as a shadow bot grabbed him and set him roughly on the stone bench against the wall. It was then he noticed the injury in his shoulder, a steady trickle of blood was running down his chest staining his fur. He also noticed that his feet had been shackled, not that it mattered now that his chaos powers were being blocked. His thoughts were interrupted by Eggman standing in front of him.

"And who might you be?"

"Don't hurt me." Shadow's voice trembled.

Eggman was taken aback; he had expected a defiant response. He had never captured someone who wasn't. He grinned; he could get a lot of information out of this guy. "As long as you corporate, I might not robotize you."

"What do you want to know?"

"First, let's start with your name."

"My name is Wodahs sir."

"And why were you sneaking around my factory?"

"I…I was sent by the Princess to bomb your factory." Shadow stammered.

"I see…and how is the dear Princess?"

Shadow hung his head, "She's distraught, we all are. I mean, everything has changed since Sonic was killed."

Eggman grinned at the reminder of his greatest accomplishment.

Shadow raised his head and continued, "And then you sent that robot to infiltrate Knothole. It claimed to be on our side. But we saw through your trick and Knuckles destroyed it before it could destroy us!"

Eggman laughed, "That foolish red buffoon probably destroyed the only hope the Freedom Fighters had."

"You mean…"

"I didn't send that robot; in fact he would have been a key player in my defeat."

Shadow hung his head and didn't reply.

"Now, I am curious as to what kind of power you have."

"Power?"

"I know that Sally would not have sent you unless you had some kind of skill."

"I can transform into a shadow."

"I see… a very useful skill. One last question, where is the location of Knothole?"

"I…I can't!"

Eggman scowled, and then he grinned, "We'll see if you feel the same when you are faced with the robotizer in the morning."

Shadow listened as the footsteps of the doctor faded, he sighed relaxing his tense body.

"Is he gone?" Sonic whispered from under the bench.

"Yeah he's gone."

Sonic crawled from under the bench and hoisted himself up beside Shadow, "You are simply a genius"

Shadow smiled, "I know, and poor Eggman fell for my little act."

Sonics' smile faded, "But he's still going to robotize you in the morning if we don't get rescued."

"At the rate my body is deteriorating I won't last till morning."

"Is it really that bad?" Sonic asked worry filling his voice.

Shadow nodded.

Sonic shook his head his eyes filling with tears, "Please just hold on until the others get here."

Shadow smiled weakly at the distraught chao, "Please tell Maria that I am sorry I couldn't keep my promise."

Sonic let the tears fall freely as he watched Shadow slip into unconscious.

Sorry for the late update things have been crazy at my house. Please review and let me know what you think of the story.


	11. Rescue

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian.

**Rescue**

**Back at Knothole Knuckles has just arrived at Sonic's.**

Maria was shocked as she opened the door, "Oh hello Knuckles what brings you here?"

"I…I need to get Obsidian to come with me on a mission to get…"

Obsidian came to the door and interrupted, "To get milk and eggs."

Maria giggled, "Ok I'll be waiting."

Knuckles glared at the grinning robot as they made their way to the forest, "You know this is a serious situation."

Obsidian's smile faded, "I know, Sonic and Shadow are in danger."

"How did you…?"

"I can sense them; Sonic seems to be fine but Shadow's life-force is fading fast."

Knuckles frowned, "If you knew why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't want Maria to find out. She has been through so much already I didn't want to worry her."

"Oh."

The two walked in silence until they reached the edge of the forest. Knuckles suddenly turned to Obsidian, "Know this robot, if you try anything I won't hesitate to dismantle you. Got It?"

Obsidian smiled, "I'll keep that in mind."

Knuckles glared at him before turning and continuing into the polluted city.

**Meanwhile Sonic was desperately trying to remove the collar from Shadow's neck.**

Sonic yelped as the shock from the collar threw him back for the thousandth time. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the thing slowly killing his friend, "I will find a way to remove it and save you Shadow." Sonic jumped from the bench and squeezed himself through the cell bars. He looked back at the unconscious form of his friend, "Don't worry I'll be back to help you keep your promise."

Shadow didn't respond as the chao took off as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Sonic raced down the hall, he was certain that Eggman would have the way to remove the collar on sector five's master computer. But the big question was… which room would it be in? An exclamation point appeared over his head as he heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall. Sonic looked around anxiously, then he spotted an open door. Quick as he could he dove into it and shut the door behind him.

Once inside he was surprised to find himself in the kitchen. Sonic looked around the room and chirped happily as he caught sight of the fridge. His joy was short lived as he desperately tried to open the heavy door, "Why are all fridges chao proof!!" the poor chao yelled at the unknown source that made chao's.

Before he could yell the universal wrongs of being a chao he heard the doorknob start to turn. Quick as a flash he raced under the table, his breath caught in his throat as he saw Eggman walk through the door.

"Snively won't mind if I eat his lunch. After all I am the boss. Hohohoho!!" Eggman then proceeded to open the fridge.

Sonic waited until all he could see was the backside of Eggman as the hungry doctor began to devour his ill gotten meal. Then Sonic dashed out of the room and continued down the hall, he took his time as he checked each room, now that Eggman was in the kitchen he figured he'd have at least four hours until the doctor left the room.

**Meanwhile**

"Are you sure they're this way?" Knuckles grumbled as Obsidian lead them through the city.

Obsidian nodded, "Yeah I'm sure, I was built in sector five."

"That's strange; I've always heard that sector five was strictly a prison."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Me and Sonic have been busting people out of there for years."

Before Obsidian could reply a large building came into view, a large red five loomed over the entrance.

"We'll need to go through the vents."

Obsidian smiled, "Actually I still have the access codes, and we can go through the front."

Knuckles crossed his arms, "It's too dangerous."

"More dangerous than a metal robot clanking around in a vent? I am not exactly light you know."

Knuckles didn't reply as they made their way to the front of the building.

Obsidian quickly punched a code into the door's computer. He stepped back as the door began to open. "Wow, it actually worked."

Knuckles frowned, "What do you mean 'actually'?"

Obsidian grinned, "I had expected Eggman to change the codes when I left to join the Freedom Fighters."

"He probably thinks you were destroyed."

Obsidian poked Knuckles in the side, "But you're so friendly."

Knuckles pushed Obsidian's hand away, "Let's just find Sonic and Shadow."

"Lead the way."

Knuckles just glared at him as they cautiously made their way into the building.

**After a few minutes long rows of cells came into view**

Knuckles and Obsidian began searching each cell.

"I found him!" Obsidian yelled from the end of the hallway.

Knuckles rushed to him only to stop in horror at the condition Shadow was in. His black fur had turned a dull gray that was stained by a still bleeding wound in his shoulder. "Shadow can you hear me?" Knuckles called quietly to the unmoving hedgehog.

Shadow didn't respond, in fact the only indication that the hedgehog was still alive were the slow, ragged, shallow breaths that came from his still frame.

Obsidian glanced around the cell, "Knuckles I don't see Sonic."

"That crazy hedgechao probably ran off to find a way to save Shadow. We have to get Shadow out first before we go look for him."

"I agree, we only have a few hours before Eggman comes to robotize him. Step back and I'll take care of the cell."

Knuckles stepped to the side as Obsidian gripped the bars, to the echidna's astonishment he began to bend the bars. Once the bars had been bent both rushed quickly into the cell.

Knuckles quickly placed his fingers to Shadow's neck, "I'm getting a faint pulse. What's this?" Knuckles tugged at the collar, he jerked his hand away as a jolt of electricity hit his hand.

Obsidian looked at the collar, "I bet this is some kind of inhibitor. We need to find a way to get it off, and then Shadow's chaos power can heal him."

"Should we take the shackles off?"

Obsidian shook his head, "We don't have time."

Knuckles nodded, "I guess you're right." Knuckles carefully placed Shadow on his shoulder, "All right let's go."

**At that moment**

Sonic grinned as he stared at a door marked Main Lab, why did Eggman label everything he owned? Sonic shook the thought from his head trying to focus on the task at hand. Sonic pushed on the door, to his surprise it slid into the wall. Now why couldn't fridge doors be this easy to open? He quietly made his way into the room, his eyes widened as he saw a large capsule filled with a green bubbling liquid. He glanced at a table that stood in the middle of the room, above it a large medical light loomed. He crept closer to the table, his curiosity getting the better of him. Sonics' stomach turned as he managed to climb up on the table and found himself on a cold metal slab stained red with dried blood. The magnitude of what he had discovered hit him; Eggman had been experimenting on someone! Sonic jumped from the table as if it had burst into flames. He glanced around the room hoping to find the poor soul, but the room was eerily silent. He silently made a promise to punish Eggman for this crime and continued looking around for the computer. He spotted it in the corner and quickly made his way to it. He struggled up into the chair; his heart sank as the console stretched for what seemed like miles in front of him. "Ok, now what?"Sonic thought as he stared in confusion at the millions of buttons in front of him. "I really should have paid attention when Tails tried to teach me about computers." Sonic thought, mentally kicking himself for falling asleep during Tails' computer lesson. "Ok, if I remember Tails said something about a folder…."Sonic scanned the buttons for a folder command, he was about to give up when he glanced at the screen. He chirped in excitement, for on the screen was a picture of a folder labeled 'collar'. "Ok, then something about the mouse… oh yeah use the mouse to click on it!" Sonic puffed out his chest with pride for figuring out technical stuff. He moved the mouse to the file and clicked, he quickly began reading, he chirped happily, "So that's how you get it off!"

"Sonic!"

With a startled squeak Sonic instinctively tried to curl into a ball, only to fall to the floor since him being a chao didn't allow for that. He quickly composed himself when he heard Knuckles laughing, he glared at the echidna, "That wasn't funny knucklehead!"

"Consider it payback for the beach."

Worry instantly filled Sonic's face as he caught sight of Shadow on Knuckles' shoulder, "Is he…?"

"No, but he will be if we can't remove this collar."

"I'm way ahead of you Knuckles." He looked at Knuckles with the chao equivilant of his signature smirk, "You see, Eggman placed a code on the collar."

"And how does that help?" Knuckles asked growing impatient.

"It helps because I know the code."

"How did you…."

"I read it on Eggman's computer." Sonic beamed with his accomplishment.

Knuckles laid Shadow in front of the excited chao.

Sonic quickly punched the code into the collar. He held his breath as nothing happened, then suddenly the collar flashed and an audible click sounded as the collar opened. Sonic grabbed it and flung it as far as he could. (This was about a foot). Both he and Knuckles held their breath waiting to see if it had been too late.

**Sorry again for the late update, summer college classes are killing me! Please review and let me know what you think.**


	12. Discovery

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian.

**Discovery**

Shadow's crimson eyes flew open as he sat up with a sudden gasp. The confused hedgehog looked at the grinning echidna kneeling beside him, "When did you get here Knuckles? And why is Sonic dancing?" the last question was directed at a happily dancing chao.

Sonic stopped, a sheepish grin on his face, "Sorry Shadow, when chao get excited it seems we dance."

Shadow flashed Sonic one of his rare grins, "I know what you mean, and I'd probably be dancing to if a 'certain' echidna had removed the shackles from my legs."

"I would think that the 'Ultimate Life form' would be able to handle a little metal." Knuckles said grinning.

"The 'Ultimate Life form' can, but the Ultimate Life form's body has been through heck so the Ultimate Life form is tired."

Knuckles laughed and threw up his hands in defeat, "Ok ok I'll get Obsidian to get them off." Knuckles looked around for the robot. He spotted him standing in front of the table in the middle of the room, the medical light gleaming off his robotic body. Obsidian's body was trembling, his hands clenching and unclenching rapidly. Knuckles slowly rose and walked over to him, "Hey Obsidian are you ok?"

Obsidian turned his head, Knuckles was shocked to see tears forming, "My nightmares make sense now…"

"What are you talking about? Knuckles asked confused.

Obsidian didn't reply as he suddenly rushed over to the computer, "The answers have to be here!" his voice held a frantic note as he rapidly began scanning the computer.

"What is going on?"Shadow asked as he picked up on the frantic pitch in Obsidian's voice.

"Just sit tight Shadow." Knuckles said never taking his eyes off of Obsidian.

Shadow crossed his arms and growled softly, he was getting tired of being helpless.

"You know Shadow I can try to get the shackles off." Sonic offered a slight mischievous expression crossing his face.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? And how does a puny chao such as yourself plan on doing that?"

Sonic grinned as he took a bobby pin out of his shoe, "Ta da!"

Shadow started to laugh, then he saw the serious look on the chao's face, "You can't be serious?"

Sonic didn't reply as he inserted the bobby pin into the key hole of the shackles. A look of pure concentration filled his face as he meticulously twisted the pin.

"Sonic, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but that's not going…" a click sounded as the shackles fell to the floor, "…work." Shadow stared in disbelief at the shackles on the floor, and then at the chao twirling the bobby pin as if it were a gun, "How did you do that?"

"I watched it on a movie." Sonic chirped smugly.

"You saw it…" Shadow shook his head, "Only you Sonic." The ebony hedgehog stood shakily to his feet, he picked up Sonic and placed him on his shoulder, and then made his way over to the still franticly searching robot.

"It's got to be here…" Obsidian said absently as he clicked on file after file.

"Obsidian… what are you searching for?" Shadow asked gently as he placed his hand on the robots shoulder.

Obsidian answered with an excited exclamation, "I've found it!"

All three stared at what Obsidian had been searching for, on the screen was a file labeled 'Project Obsidian'.

"What is it?" Sonic chirped from Shadow's shoulder.

Before Obsidian could reply the door to the room suddenly exploded as a large combot burst into the room. Its sensors locked onto the three individuals. "Destroy intruders!" it droned as its mechanical mind shifted through priority targets. The black hedgehog was not listed, the robot was also unlisted, and the chao was no threat. That left only Knuckles the echidna, priority high. Satisfied that its programming had been met the combot shot a laser at the aforementioned echidna.

"Look out!"

Knuckles was aware of being pushed aside, of a pain filled yell, and of cold concrete. He looked up from the floor and froze at the sight of the combot powering up for a second shot.

"Hang on!" the deep voice of Shadow sounded strained.

Knuckles suddenly found himself surrounded by a bright light, he barely heard Shadow's command of 'Chaos Control' due to the high pitch screams of a hysterical chao.

The calmness of the forests dawn was shattered as figures materialized, the shrill scream of a chao causing all animals in the vicinity to run for cover.

"Sonic will you shut up!" Shadow yelled at the frantic chao hanging onto his arm.

Sonic quite yelling and climbed up to Shadow's shoulder, he looked around in confusion, "What happened? How did we…" Sonic stopped midsentence as he caught sight of the reason for Shadow's shortness. The still form of Obsidian laid motionless in Shadow's arms, his eyes closed and his breath ragged. "What happened to Obsidian?!"

"He…he saved my life." Knuckles said reverently as he stood beside Shadow.

"We have to get him to Rotor's lab!"

"Not the lab Sonic." Shadow replied softly.

"Why not?" Knuckles asked in confusion.

"Because he's bleeding."

Sonic and Knuckles stared in disbelief as they noticed for the first time the river of dark red blood that was flowing from the mortal wound in Obsidian's chest, barely noticeable against the black metal.

"How is that possible?" Knuckles wondered aloud.

"Who cares?! He needs help!" Sonic said angrily.

"Calm down Sonic, I'll have him at Dr. Quack's before you can say 'chili dog'." Shadow assured the irate chao.

"Chili…"

"Chaos control!" and in a flash of light the forest was once again silent.

**Sorry for the late update, please review and let me know what you think.**


	13. Interesting

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian.

**Interesting…**

**At Knothole village inside the hospital waiting room….**

"Will you sit down already?!" Shadow scolded a pacing blue chao.

"I can't sit still Shadow; it's been over an hour since they took him back. Something must be wrong." The chao looked at Shadow wanting him to disagree.

"Dr. Quack is one of the best doctors on Mobious and Rotor is the best robot expert in Knothole. So don't worry about Obsidian, he's in good hands."

Knuckles nodded in agreement, "Listen to him Sonic, Obsidian will be just fine."

Sonic stopped pacing and sat on the floor, "I still think it's taking too long."

**Inside the operating room…**

A yellow duck stared at the patient in front of him; in all his years of practice he had never had a patient like him. The door behind him opened as a purple walrus dressed in scrubs came in. "Oh good Rotor you're here. Please come hold the med light so I can see just how bad this wound is."

"Doctor why are you working on a robot, that's my field." Rotor said as he stood beside the doctor.

"That's exactly what I tried telling them when Shadow and Knuckles appeared out of the blue in my office. I told them you were the robot doctor."

"What they say to convince you otherwise?"

Dr. Quack chuckled, "That crazy chao of Shadow's leapt from his shoulder and bit me on the leg! He chirped with what I could have sworn was anger when Shadow yelled at him to calm down. Shadow then apologized for the creature then he showed me the blood that was coming from the robot's body."

Rotor looked at the doctor in confusion, "That's not possible; even if he were a robotized mobian there wouldn't be any blood."

Dr. Quack nodded, "I know, but I have just spent the last hour trying to stop the blood flow before you got here. So there is something going on here. Now please hold the light so we can see what we are dealing with."

**About thirty minutes later….**

An exhausted Dr. Quack and Rotor came into the waiting room where they were immediately bombarded by questions.

"If you both will sit down I will explain as much as I can."

Knuckles and Shadow both sat back down, the later grabbing the chao from the floor and placing him in the chair next to himself.

Dr. Quack cleared his throat, "First I will begin by telling you that your friend will live. The laser that the combot shot hit him dead center in the chest plate…"

"But because he's a robot it didn't kill him." Knuckles interrupted.

"Actually Knuckles your friend is complete Mobian."

"What!" both Shadow and Knuckles looked astounded, an exclamation point appeared over the chao's head as his mouth fell open.

"I will let Rotor explain."

The walrus cleared his throat, "From what I can tell your friend Obsidian is a Mobian that has been encased in an external metalloid alloy."

A question mark appeared over the chao's head, he nudged Shadow's arm.

"He's a guy trapped in a metal shell."

The chao nodded and motioned for Rotor (who had stopped to watch him) to continue.

"Umm…as I was saying, because of the metalloid "shell" your friend was able to survive an otherwise fatal wound."

"If Obsidian is simply in a metal shell, can't we just take him out of it?"

"It's not that simple Knuckles. You see, Eggman surgically grafted the metal to Obsidian's body. Basically he anchored the metal into his body."

"So why don't you simply remove the anchors?"

A thoughtful expression filled Rotor's face, "You know Shadow that might work, although we would have to see just how far the anchors went. That would be dangerous but…"

"I believe we should let Obsidian make the decision on what he wants to do." Dr. Quack interrupted.

"Are we allowed to go see him?"

Dr. Quack nodded, "Yes, you can see him in about an hour. He should be moved from the recovery room to a regular room by then. I will have a nurse come and get you. Please excuse me, I must see to my other patients."

"Thank you doctor." Shadow rose and extended his hand.

Dr. Quack shook it in surprise, "It was my pleasure Shadow. Oh Rotor before I forget will you take a look at the x-ray machine. The darn thing keeps making a weird clanking sound.

"No problem." Rotor said as he followed him.

As soon as they left Sonic let out a relieved sigh, "I'm glad Obsidian's ok."

Shadow nodded, "See I told you not worry. Speaking of worrying, we need to get back to Maria before she gets upset."

"All right, you two go see Maria. I'll wait here just in case anything comes up."

"Ok, Knuckles you hold down the fort and we'll see you in an hour." Sonic said as Shadow placed him on his shoulder.

**At Sonic's home…**

As soon as she heard the knock Maria had the door open. When she saw Shadow she threw her arms around him, "Shadow I was so worried about you!" Maria said as she tried to stifle her sobs.

Shadow returned her embrace, "I'm sorry that I worried you, but I'm ok."

A low growl sounded from Sonic's stomach, "Umm… do you think you could fix a few chili dogs?"

Maria laughed, "Of course Sonic, Shadow you go take a shower to get rid of the rest of that dye. And Sonic…"

Sonic cringed, getting ready to bolt for the door if the word 'bath' was included in her sentence.

"…you straighten up the house."

"Can do Maria!" Sonic chirped as he jumped from Shadow to the couch, where he began straightening the pillows.

**Once Shadow had finished his shower all three sat at the table.**

"I'm just glad all of that dye washed out." Shadow said as Maria handed him a chili dog.

"Mumff mumff muff mumfuf."

"Sonic don't talk with your mouth full." Maria giggled.

Sonic gulped down his mouthful and smiled, "What I was trying to say is that you looked good in pink Shadow."

Shadow glared at him, "You know that dye can be used on chao." Shadow grinned, "And Amy has been looking for a pink chao…."

Sonic almost choked, "That's not funny Shadow!"

"Shadow, quite picking on Sonic. Oh Shadow, have you heard from Obsidian? He left with Knuckles last night and I haven't heard from him."

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, Shadow placed his hand on Maria's, "Maria, Obsidian came last night to help me with my mission. He was hurt and we had to take him to the hospital."

Maria gasped, "But Obsidian's a…"

Shadow shook his head, "No, he's a Mobian that Eggman experimented on."

Maria gasped, "How bad was he hurt?"

"Dr. Quack says that he'll be just fine."

"You don't seem so surprised that Obsidians not a robot." Sonic piped up.

Maria nodded, "My grandfather had a similar method he used on the Ark.'

"You mean Dr. Gerald turned Mobians into robots!" Sonic was taken aback.

"No, no that's not what I mean. Grandfather only used it on humans who had been injured in the war. It was completely volunteer based; no one was ever forced to have the process done." A thoughtful look crossed her face, "To tell the truth I believe that Grandfather placed the research in the archives of the Ark under lock and password once the war had ended. He was afraid someone would use the method to create biomechanical weapons."

"And it seems that his fears came true." Shadow said his voice full of anger.

Sonic nodded, "Shadow's right, and if Eggman has that old guys research then he'll create more like Obsidian."

Maria shook her head, "I doubt he'll try since he believes he can no longer get Shadow's dna."

"What does my dna have to do with it?"

"You see Shadow, my grandfather would insert of small amount of your blood into the soldier, Your blood would keep the person from dying due to the metal toxins that invaded the body."

"But why my blood?"

"Originally you were created to be a cure, a healer and a protector. In order for this to be accomplished my grandfather infused your body with chaos energy. The end result was that you gained the ability to use chaos, you became immortal, and your blood had the power the heal those it was injected into."

"So I wasn't meant to be a weapon?" Shadow asked, his mind whirling with answers to questions that he had never been able to answer.

"Of course not! Grandfather never intended for you to a weapon, although G.U.N. had a different idea."

Before Shadow could ask anything else Sonic interrupted, "So Eggman used Shadow's dna in Obsidian?"

Maria nodded, "He would have had too, without it Obsidian would have died minutes after the surgery due to the toxins."

"So what happens when my dna disappears?"

Maria smiled, "That's the wonder of your blood Shadow. It never dissipates therefore your dna will never go away. Obsidian will never have to worry about the toxins."

"That's great!" Sonic chirped, and then his face filled with horror. "Wait, did you say never goes away?"

"Yes, I did… is something wrong?"

Maria asked as the chao's left eye began to twitch.

"Sonic…" Shadow said softly.

**Sorry for the late update. School is crazy and then to top it all off I got bit by a brown recluse spider! Anyway, I hope to have the next chapter up sooner. Please review and let me know what you think. **


	14. Be Careful What You Wish For

I do not own any characters except for Obsidian.

**Be Careful What You Wish For**

Without warning the blue chao jumped from the table and raced out of the kitchen screaming.

"What's wrong with him?" Maria yelled holding her ears to block the chao's screams.

Shadow shook his head as Sonic raced by him screaming "I'm going to be a chao forever!" at the top of lungs. "He's just upset because now we have idea how to change him back." Shadow sighed as the screams began to take on a rhythmic pattern. "I originally thought all we had to do was wait for the balance in his body to be restored."

"Change him back?" Maria asked in confusion as she uncovered her ears. The loud screams had been replaced by sobbing which drifted into the kitchen from the living room.

"Sonic was originally a hedgehog like me. Before I found you I had been captured by Metal Sonic, a robotic version of Sonic. Sonic sacrificed himself to save me, so I injected him with my blood to bring him back to life. It worked, only he came back as a chao and not a hedgehog."

"That makes no sense; Sonic's injuries should have simply healed. He should not have been changed so drastically."

"What about you Maria, my blood changed you from human to hedgehog."

Maria smiled, "That's true, but you see the vial you injected me with also contained a small amount of ring energy."

"Ring energy?"

Maria nodded, "Yes, rings allows a person a single wish. And I had always wanted to be like you Shadow, so your dna provided the power and the ring energy granted my wish."

Shadow's eyes went wide, "Sonic's body is practically full of ring energy due to all the rings he's gathered over the years."

"Then that has to be it! Someone there must have made the wish and the energy in Sonic acted accordingly."

Shadow rubbed the back of his quills, "But… no one said anything."

"They wouldn't of had to, ring wishes can be made simply be thinking them."

"But I didn't say that I wished it!" Shadow blurted out before he could stop himself

"You wished for Sonic to be a chao?"

Shadow grinned sheepishly, "Well… not really in so many words. I was simply thinking about how Sonic sometimes acted reckless. Then that made me think of that time on the Ark when one of the chao Dr. Gerald had accidently opened the door to the outside and was almost sucked into space."

Maria smiled, "Subconsciously you must have wanted to be back on the Ark with the chao. So the ring energy in Sonic must have interpreted that want as a wish to turn Sonic into a chao."

"Can't I just wish him a hedgehog again?"

Maria shook her head, "Legends of the rings state that only the keeper of the rings can undo wishes."

"So all we have to do is find this 'keeper' and Sonic will be normal again, well as normal as Sonic gets."

Maria shook her head, "It's not that simple no one has ever seen the keeper. Most have dismissed the claim that he even exists."

"You never know until you try."Shadow said as he walked into the living room. He stopped and just stared; "Now that is just sad."

"What?" Maria asked as she stood beside him, she had to cover her mouth to suppress her laughter. Lying in the middle of the floor was a still sobbing chao that had curled himself as close to a ball as a chao could get.

Shadow knelt beside him, "Come on Sonic we have to go see Obsidian."

A sob was Sonic's response.

"And then we can go find the guy that can change you back into a hedgehog."

"Huh?" Sonic uncurled slightly.

"He'll be easy to find."

Sonic jumped to his feet, "All right let's go!" the little chao then raced to the door.

"What are you going to do when you can't find him?" Maria whispered as she followed Shadow.

"I haven't gotten that far."

Maria smiled, "You'll think of something."

"Don't I always?" Shadow said smugly as they headed to the hospital

**At the hospital**

"Obsidian can you hear me?" Maria whispered softly.

Obsidian moaned and slowly opened his eyes; he looked around the room, "Where am I?"

"Your in Knothole hospital, we brought you here after you saved my life." Knuckles spoke up his voice reverent.

Obsidian just grinned at him, "It was the least I could do after you threw me that nice welcome party." Without giving Knuckles time to retort Obsidian looked at Shadow, "Were you able to find anything out from the computer file?"

Shadow shook his head, "I'm sorry Obsidian after you were shot things got a little hectic. I had to get everyone out of there before anyone else got hurt."

Obsidian's face fell; he was startled as Sonic jumped from Shadow to the bed. The chao had his infamous grin plastered on his face.

"Once again it's Sonic to the rescue." The chao exclaimed as he puffed out his chest in pride.

Everyone just stared at him.

"I managed to open the file, before Shadow almost left me." Sonic glared at the mentioned hedgehog.

"Is that why you were holding onto my elbow when we arrived in the forest?"

"What did the file say?!" Obsidian interrupted his voice full of excitement.

"Umm… well I only had time to read a few words, Danzi Kai. But I have no idea what they mean."

Everyone jumped suddenly as the door to the room flung open, and a very angry Sally walked in.

"You have a lot of nerve Sonic! I should have been told about your condition instead of you letting me worry myself sick about you!"

Sonic sweat-dropped, "Umm…chao?"

"Don't even go there Sonic, Knuckles already spilled the beans."

"Blabbermouth." Sonic scowled at Knuckles. He then turned to Sally, "I'm sorry Sal, I didn't mean to worry you. I just didn't want you to see me like this. Can you ever forgive me?"

Sally just shook her head at the puppy dog eyes Sonic was giving her, "Why can't I ever stay mad at you?"

Sonic grinned, "It must be my charm."

"It's definitely not your IQ." Shadow laughed poking Sonic in the head.

Sonic shoved his finger away, "At least I'm not a blood bank!"

"That's a low blow chao face." Shadow growled

"Will you two just stop it?! I swear you two are like two year olds!" Maria scolded.

"He started it." Sonic said as he pointed at Shadow.

"What is with all the ruckus! My patient should be resting."

Everyone turned to see Dr. Quack standing in the doorway.

The doctors eyes went to the chart he was holding, "Obsidian I have the results of the tests here. If everyone would please wait outside."

As soon as everyone had left Obsidian grinned at Dr. Quack, "Give it to me straight doc."

"All right." Dr. Quack took a deep breath as he stood beside the bed, "The tests show that the metal is anchored all the way down into the bone. As well as into parts of your cranium, though the tests didn't show just how far. Rotor seems confident that all of the metal can be removed. I am not that optimistic; I fear that you internal organs may be damaged beyond repair due to the strain of trying to keep your Mobian body alive under all of the metal."

"What are the odds I'll survive the surgery?" Obsidian asked his voice calm.

"I put your chances of survival at 20%."

Obsidian closed his eyes, after a few minutes he opened them, "I still want to have the surgery,"

Dr. Quack stared at him in disbelief, "Obsidian you need time to think about this."

"I have thought about it doctor, and it has to be done. My life was stolen from me and I'm going to do everything in my power to get it back. And if it takes dying to do it then I will."

"Very well if that's what you want. Although let me make this very clear, If I get in there and removing the metal is killing you I will not proceed with the surgery."

Obsidian shook Dr. Quacks hand, "Agreed, oh and could you not tell the others of the risk. I don't want them to worry."

"All right if that's what you want, though I think you should tell them. I will send a nurse to come get you in a few minutes to take you back."

As soon as Dr. Quack had left the others rushed in eager to find out what was said.

"The doctor was simply informing me that Rotor is confident that the metal can be removed from my body."

Maria grabbed his hand, "That's wonderful Obsidian! Are they going to do the surgery today?"

Obsidian nodded, "Yeah, a nurse will be here in a few minutes to get me."

"Are you nervous?" Sonic asked from Shadow's shoulder

Obsidian considered the question, "Not really, I'm more nervous about not knowing who I am. All I have to go on are a few words and even they aren't very helpful."

Sonic hung his head, "Sorry."

"It's not your fault Sonic, you did your best and without you I wouldn't have anything."

"I have Nicole running the words through all known data banks." Sally said as she glanced at her hand held computer.

"I have the Chaotix on the case as well Obsidian. And if anybody can find out information it's those guys."

"As long as they don't have to find a computer room." Shadow said crossly.

Everyone stared at him in confusion.

"What! They can never find it without my help."

Before anyone could ask Shadow what he meant the door opened and a nurse walked in, "All right Obsidian Dr. Quack is ready for you."

"Good luck Obsidian!" Sonic called as they wheeled the bed out of the room.

Obsidian gave them a thumbs up as the nurse took him down the hallway.

"I hope he'll be ok." Maria said as they went into the waiting room.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine." Shadow said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

**Hope you liked the chapter, please review and let me know what you think.**


	15. A Success?

All Sega characters belong to Sega, all Archie characters belong to Archie, and everyone else belongs to me! Muhahahahaha!!!

**A Success?**

**Inside the operating room…**

Obsidian glanced nervously at the nurses milling around the room. He jumped slightly at a loud snap as Dr. Quack finished putting his gloves on.

"Sorry about that Obsidian." Dr. Quack said as he came and stood beside him.

Obsidian grinned at him, "Its ok doc, I'm just a bit high strung. The last time I was on an operating table I was turned into a monster."

Dr. Quack placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's not the outside that determines if a person is a monster or not." He motioned for a nurse, "Now Obsidian I want you to take deep breaths and count backwards from ten."

Obsidian began mentally counting as the nurse placed a mask over his face. He made it to seven, and then the world seemed to cave in around him as he slipped into anesthesia sleep.

"He's under doctor." The nurse said as she watched Obsidian's eyes dim.

"All right let's begin."

* * *

Blackness; that was the first thing Obsidian was aware of. His body felt weightless as he drifted through the nothingness. Panicked, he looked around for any sign of life. His eyes caught sight of a small blue flame off in the distance. He forced his body towards it, as he neared the flame it began to flicker intensely. He gasped as the flame began to morph and expand. Within a matter of seconds the flame had disappeared and in its place was an elderly hedgehog.

Obsidian stared in disbelief at the elder. The elder's fur was a sky-blue with tints of gray. On each of his quills a single golden lightning bolt pattern ran from base to tip. All of this Obsidian took in at a glance; he was too busy gawking at the large gray leather wings that extended from the elders back.

"You have wings!" Obsidian exclaimed his mind trying to process what it was seeing.

The elder laughed, a sound that reminded Obsidian of a soft wind, "You are certainly the jokester my child." The elder studied Obsidian's confused expression, "You have no memory of me, do you?"

"Should I?"

"Look at me Danzi, try to remember."

"Danzi? Who's Danzi? Am I Danzi?" Obsidian's mind was reeling.

"Have you forgotten yourself as well?" the elder spoke in a sad voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to remember. Eggman took my memory from me when he turned me into a robot. My friends are at this moment removing the metal from my body."

"I see, that explains why I have not been able to contact you until now." The elder rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Then it is settled."

"What's settled?"

"You are to come find me in Valle De Sol, there I will explain everything."

"Valle De Sol? Where is that?"

"It is…"the elder suddenly stopped as his body began to fade, he looked at Obsidian with concern in his eyes, "I pray your friends can save you Danzi."

"Save me? Save me from wha…" Obsidian stopped in midsentence as he noticed his own body was also fading. He looked at the elder for an explanation.

"Follow the sun my child, follow the sun…" his voice whispered as he faded into the blackness.

Obsidian suddenly screamed into the blackness as a surge of electricity hit his chest.

* * *

"Again!" Dr. Quack yelled as he placed the two pads on Obsidian's chest. Within seconds Obsidian's body jerked as the volts of electricity coursed through his body. Dr. Quack stared at the heart monitor, nothing. "Again!" once again the volts coursed through the hedgehog's body as the valiant doctor tried to restart his heart. The whole room sighed in relief as the machine began to beep, signaling the revival of the heart. A nurse wiped the sweat from Dr. Quack's brow.

"What happened Doctor?" Rotor asked his eyes shining with concern above his mask.

"What I feared would happen. Obsidian's heart has become too weak to support the body on its own. We have to replace the metal casing on the heart."

The room went silent, Rotor spoke up quietly, "But we have already removed the metal from the legs. We can't go back and…"

"I didn't say that."Dr. Quack interrupted him, "We will replace the metal on his heart and leave the metal on the left pectoral for added protection for the weakened organ."

"What about the left arm Doctor?" a nurse asked softly

"As much as it pains me to have to do this, that arm must remain encased in metal. I will not risk removing the circuitry since it is so closely linked to the heart."

"But if you leave the circuitry in the arm and heart you have to leave the circuitry in the brain!" Rotor exclaimed.

You could have heard a pin drop as the occupants of the room waited for the doctor's response.

"I am well aware of that. The circuitry must remain but the outside metal can be removed without it being harmful to Obsidian."

Rotor nodded in agreement as they began the operation again.

* * *

Inside the waiting room Sonic was pacing nervously, "When will they get done?"

Shadow sighed, "We've already been over this Sonic. When Dr. Quack is finished he will come tell us."

"But Shadow…"

"No buts Sonic learn some patience."

Sonic crossed his arms and plopped on the floor, "Easy for you to say, you were frozen for fifty years, of course you would know patience."

Before Shadow could retort the door to the room opened as a nurse came in.

"Your friend is out of surgery and has been moved to a room for recovery. When he awakens I will come back for you."

"So the removal was a success then."Maria sighed in relief.

The nurse hesitated, "For the most part." She said quietly.

"What do you mean by that?" Sally asked.

The nurse gulped, "I'm not at liberty to discuss a patient. Only Dr. Quack can, I mean no disrespect Princess."

Sally nodded, "I understand, please let us know the minute we can see him."

"It should only be about an hour if not sooner." The nurse bowed slightly as she left.

As soon as the door closed Sonic let out an exasperated sigh, "I don't think I can last another hour!"

Sally was about the scold him when Maria spoke up.

"Sonic, if you can wait patiently for the rest of the time and not complain I'll make you all the chili dogs you can eat."

"You mean it?" Sonic said starting to drool.

Maria nodded, "But you have to be very patient."

"Yes, Mam!" Sonic said saluting.

"Sonic you're kidding yourself if you think you can be patient for an entire hour." Knuckles laughed.

As Sonic argued with Knuckles how he could to be patient Shadow noticed the worried expression on Maria's face.

"What's wrong Maria?"

"It's what the nurse said. I mean she implied that there was a problem with the surgery. What if something has happened to Obsidian and their just not telling us?"

Shadow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Obsidian's a fighter Maria. I'm sure that whatever is thrown his way he'll find a way to overcome it."

Maria smiled, "Thanks Shadow, you always know how to cheer me up."

"That's what family is for."

The room was suddenly filled with Sonic and Knuckles' voices as their argument escalated. Without warning Sonic decided to end the argument by biting the echidna on the leg.

Knuckles responded to this by screaming loudly, jumping up and flinging the chao across the room.

"Maybe you'll be good now."Sally said as she picked up the dazed chao.

Maria just shook her head as she continued to watch the clock.

**I am so sorry for the late update! College has been a nightmare! Please review and let me know what you think.**


	16. The End is Only the Beginning

All Sega characters belong to Sega, all Archie characters belong to Archie, and everyone else belongs to me!

**The End Is Only the Beginning**

"Obsidian can you hear me?" Dr. Quack asked as the hedgehog began to stir.

Slowly Obsidian opened his eyes, "I feel like I was trampled by Eggman on his way to the fridge." His eyes widened when he remembered why he was there. He looked at Dr. Quack, "So how did it go?"

"See for yourself." The doctor held a mirror in front of him.

Obsidian stared at the face looking back at him. The face belonged to a young hedgehog, probably in his early eighteens. The hedgehog's fur was an icy blue; his muzzle was a light tan. Across the face a scar ran, starting just below the middle of the forehead and continuing diagonally just blow the right eye, until it disappeared off the right cheek. The dark sapphire eyes seemed so familiar to Obsidian, and then it dawned on him. This was his face, he tried to sit up but his body wouldn't respond. Suddenly he felt the bed move.

"Your body is just weak Obsidian; it may take a few months for your muscles to regain their strength." Dr. Quack said as he raised Obsidian to a sitting position.

Now that he was sitting up Obsidian could see himself fully. He stared, like his face the fur on his body was an icy blue with patches of white throughout. His chest and stomach were also covered with tan fur. Obsidian's eyes locked on the black metal glinting with the light from the room. He looked at Dr. Quack confused.

"We had to leave the metal encasing your heart due to how weak it has become. I decided to leave the metal plate on your left pectoral for added protection."

"And the left arm?"

"The circuitry was to closely connected to the heart and I didn't want to risk removing the metal nor the circuitry. Not after we almost lost you."

"Lost me? What happened?"

"When I removed the metal from your heart the organ began to give out. Within seconds it stopped completely. I managed to restart it; that is when I made the decision to leave the metal on the heart and the arm."

"So the inside of me is still metal?"

Dr. Quack shook his head, "Surprisingly your other organs were not encased in metal as we had originally thought. So the only trace of Eggman's experiment on you is your left arm and left side of your chest, and the metal encasing your heart."

"And the circuitry in my head." Obsidian laughed at Dr. Quack's confused expression, " I know a bit about the body doctor. The brain would need to be able to communicate with the arm and heart. And the only way to accomplish this is if you left the circuitry in the brain. I am also aware that if my heart stopped once there is a good chance that it will again in the future."

"You are right on both accounts Obsidian. I did have to leave the circuitry so the brain could communicate with the arm and heart. And you are also right about your heart. There is a chance that your heart could fail again in the future. That is why Rotor placed an electric impulse inside the casing around your heart. If your heart stops the casing will sense it and the electrical impulse will discharge and restart your heart. I am so sorry, I tried to remove everything."

Obsidian grinned, "No sweat doc, you've done more than enough for me. Without you I'd still be trapped in a metal shell. Although I wish you would do something about the sheets behind my back, their all crumpled up."

"That's the thing I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Sheets?"

"Those aren't sheets."

Obsidian slowly reached behind his back, his fingers came in contact with a leathery surface. His eyes widened as he pulled a dark blue leather wing around. He fingered the soft leather, his mind going back to his conversation with the elderly hedgehog.

"Valle de Sol." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Obsidian are you ok?"

Obsidian smiled, "I'm fine doctor. I'm just a bit perplexed about this; maybe one of my parents was a bat?"

Dr. Quack shook his head, "I have seen bat wings before, and those are not bat wings. I have only seen wings like those on one creature."

"What?"

"A dragon."

Obsidian was taken aback, "But that makes no sense."

"It's a mystery all right, but let's not dwell on the unknown. I imagine your friends are waiting for you, do you feel like having them visit?"

"Yeah send them in." Obsidian said absently as he pulled his other wing around and stared at it.

Within seconds a blue chao came running through the open door, "Obsidian!"

Obsidian looked up startled, his wings instinctively fanning out beside him.

Sonic's eyes widened as he turned tail and ran out the door screaming, "Demon!!!!!"

Obsidian sighed; he'd have to be careful how he revealed his wings to people. He could hear Sally scolding Sonic as they neared the door. He quickly pulled his wings back, not wanting to scare the others.

"Sorry Obsidian, Sonic must be high strung from having to wait so long." Sally said as she and the others came into the room.

Shadow came in with Sonic on his shoulder; the chao was staring at Obsidian suspiciously.

Obsidian smiled, "It's ok Sally I would have done the same, I mean it's not every day you see a hedgehog with wings."

"What are you talking about?" Maria asked as she stood beside him

"Promise you won't freak out?" when Maria nodded Obsidian carefully raised his wings, just enough so they could be seen.

Everyone stared in silence, that is until Sonic looked at Knuckles, "Told you I wasn't crazy."

Obsidian's laugh snapped everyone out of their trance.

"Their beautiful, like sapphires. May I?" Maria asked as she started to feel one.

Obsidian nodded, relieved that she was so accepting. The need for her acceptance surprised him. He hadn't really cared what the others would think, but he had truly feared what Maria would. He was snapped from his thought by her giggle.

"They feel like soft leather."

Obsidian smiled at her, "I'm glad you like them."

"Do you know how you got them?" Shadow asked

"Not a clue, just chalk them up to the many mysteries about me." He was surprised by Sally's computer beeping.

"Oh, Nicole wants me to apologize. She couldn't find anywhere called Danzi Kai."

"Neither could the Chaotix." Knuckles said with a touch of amusement.

"That's because it's not a place, it's a name."

"A name? How do you know?" Sonic chirped.

"I know because it used to be my name." Obsidian said quietly.

Maria placed her hand on his, "But you don't feel like it is, do you?"

Obsidian stared at her, his tough front dissolving, "It's just that Danzi was who I used to be. I have no idea who he was, or what he was like. It's like Danzi is dead and I'm a stranger trapped in his body. I don't think I deserve that name until I discover who Danzi was, is. Then and only then can I honestly say that it is my name."

Shadow nodded, "I know exactly what you mean."

"And we'll help you get your memories back." Sonic chirped excitedly, then he stopped, "But now we have nothing to go on."

"Valle de Sol. I need to find Valle de Sol."

"Nicole, search data banks for any reference on 'Valle de Sol'."

"Searching Sally." The small machines female voice said as it ran through all its files.

Everyone held their breath, suddenly Nicole beeped.

"Valle de Sol, where the sun touches the earth. This mythical valley has been searched for by explorers for decades. It is believed that the valley holds many precious gems and gold. Location unknown."

Obsidian sighed, "That figures."

"No problem, we'll find it."

Obsidian stared at the confidant chao, "But we have no clue where to begin."

Sonic hopped to the bed and gave Obsidian his famous grin, "We start by going to the Mobious Desert."

"And what has brought on this stroke of genius?" Shadow asked sarcastically.

"Well… a place where the sun touches has to be hot, right? And the desert is hot, plus it's the best place to hide a mythical valley since not many people could survive the desert."

"And what makes you think that you can?" Knuckles asked.

"I am Sonic the hedgehog," a mischievous grin came over Sonic's face, "and Shadow is the Ultimate Life form. Aren't you Shadow?"

"Of course I am!" He looked at Obsidian, "Don't worry Obsidian we'll help you find your answers."

"I couldn't ask you to do something so dangerous."

"We won't take no for an answer." Sonic said simply

Shadow placed his hand on Obsidian's shoulder, "Besides, that's what friends are for."

Obsidian smiled back at him, "Thank you, I couldn't ask for better friends." suddenly he couldn't keep his eyes open as exhaustion swept over his body. Before his eyes closed he could hear Sally herding the others out of the room. He tried to stop them when he felt a hand on his, he managed to open his eyes and saw the smiling face of Maria.

"Shhh, just rest Obsidian. I'll stay by your side."

Obsidian sighed as he let himself drift into peaceful sleep.

And that ends this story, I need to know a few things:

First- Did you enjoy this chapter

Second- Do you want me to continue the story?

Third- If so do you want it under this title so it is easier to find.

Thank you so much for reading; I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I have. Please review and let me know what you think.


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